Terrible News...

UPDATE 3.19.2018:
I just learned that FDJ lost another of his kitties, Sabby.

I have no words for how terrible these past few days have been... 
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Tonight, I received word that Uncle Kougra crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. Kougra was one of FDJ's personal cats who would often sneak into the kitten room and interact with them. Viewers knew him as Uncle Kougra, and looked forward to his visits--which were used to introduce the kittens to other cats and get them ready for their forever homes that may have multiple cats, or other animals.

Animals don't fear death....

In an earlier post, FDJ made a request regarding donations for Kougra's care:

"If you wish to donate, and by all means only do so if you're financially sound, my PayPal address is jbartlett@strangejourney.net. If more funds are raised than needed for his care, it will be donated to Purrfect Pals "Tipper Fund" - a special fund used for medical care for shelter cats that goes above and beyond the norm. And thank you!"(Original post 3.18.18)

Spring Break

For my spring break, I went home to Sioux Falls, SD. The most exciting thing I did was try to introduce my mother to The Hobbit movies. She believes them too violent; and she hates the Pale Orc, Smaug the Terrible, and the Necromancer; and stopped watching after the company made it into the Lonely Mountain, citing the violence, as well as the length. She also stated that Gandalf was too willful; Bilbo, too reckless; and the dwarves, too greedy. >.>

I did manage to reread all of The Fellowship of the Ring, and started The Two Towers.

Besides cleaning my mother's house, I spent the majority of the week looking for a summer job that fits my criteria: near a bus stop, at least $9 an hour, and will give me more than 15 hours a week for the summer.

Lord of the Rings Soundtrack Playlist
This playlist has all of the movie soundtracks from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies. I use this playlist to drown out the neighbors and their Netflix addiction.

Chinese New Year: The Year of the Dog

As the Chinese New Year: The Year of the Dog began, I began to dwell on my dog, Precious, who I recently lost to old age (13 years old). I decided to share a handful of stories with you all in memory of my Precious puppy.

Thunderstorm-7/5/2013
I was the only one home. Mum had the habit of opening my bedroom door when she left for work. Precious, being frightened of thunderstorms, would normally hide under mum's bed, but since my door was open, and I was home, she came to sit with me. Her Goofballness was lying in my doorway watching the rest of the house (See above). When I woke up to a clap of thunder, I heard her squeak, then growl to herself. I think she was trying to protect me from the Big Noise. She was utter frightened, but she refused to leave me to Its mighty wrath. She growled to keep her courage from slipping. When I whispered her name she jumped. She raced over to my bed and whimpered. Against my mother's no-dog-in-your-bed rule, I pulled Her Goofballness into bed with me and we snuggled until the storm blew itself out. My brave protector. <3

Regarding My Ex-Boyfriend
Precious hated him (name withheld). When I came back from his place, she took a couple minutes trying to decide if I was really me. She knew my footsteps, and my appearance. But I must have smelled funny because she would stop at the top of our split level and stick her tongue out at me until I spoke and convinced her I was really me. She would then tackle me and proceed to clean me and make me "presentable". She would stick her moist nose inside my ears and snort to show her derision and what she thought of him. She would then steal my socks and bury them under her blanket.

Christmas 2014
I got Precious a new bed (shown above) as she had outgrown her old one. Initially, she refused to sleep in it--we couldn't figure out why.

One evening, I curled up on the floor with her while we were watching TV. She dragged it over and dropped it on my head! She thought it was mine! 

Regarding Dating
My date came to the door to pick me up for our first date. Precious scared the crap out of him--She didn't threaten him, chase him or anything, but he was apparently frightened of dogs... That told me everything I needed to know regarding our relationship. Precious was a higher priority than boys. I went with him anyway, and had a terrible, awkward time. When he dropped me off, he refused to walk me to the door, opting to stay near the car--and his escape route.

As it was a warm night, mum left the door pen, with the screen door pulled shut. I could see Precious peering out from the top of the stairs awaiting my return. She stuck out her tongue again when she heard me on the front walk. I told her not to be mean. She turned around and showed me her bum. I laughed, and she seemed to grin back. He didn't stick around to say good night. That's probably alright--I'm not sure I could handle someone who can't handle a little attitude from an overweight dachshund about a fifth of his size. Thank you, Precious, for saving me from a life as a banker's wife with no option of a pet...

Christmas 2015
I got a Darth Vader bear from Build-A-Bear Workshop for Christmas. Precious grabbed him by the tail and dragged him to her bed. So, I got her a Pawlette bunny named Peanut. She loved to grab Peanut by the tail, and long ears, and drag her around the house. She tried to teach Peanut to eat kibble and even tried to take her outside to potty. I told her Peanut needed to stay inside--I was allowed to watch Peanut until Her Goofballness returned and wiped her dainty paws as she came back in.

Regarding Lambchop
In the photo below, Precious is snuggling with her beloved yellow Lambchop. Originally, I got her a purple one, but she started ripping poor Lambchop's eyebrow off. When I would come home from school, mum would tell Precious that I was coming. Precious would race around the house looking for both Lambchops, whom she would place at the top of our split level, and she would do her little excitement dance at the top of the stairs as I walked in. She thought it extremely rude if I didn't pick her up right away and would try to knock me over! Then she would drag me upstairs by my jacket sleeves, and we had to play for a while before I could do anything else.

For anybody who says that pets aren't family, I highly disagree. Precious was my little sister.

Video: "The Machine is Us/ing Us"

In his video, I like how Dr. Michael Wesch uses screens that are familiar to emphasize his points. For example, he uses Google search screens to illustrate that users don't need to know coding languages to upload new content, all they need is to be able to use a search engine, the ability to click a mouse, and *POOF!*, you're magically qualified to create content. Many of our frequently visited webpages would not exist without user-created content--YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter, for example.

Many people complain about tagging things because it takes too much time; but what they don't realize that they tag things already. If you've ever used a hashtag, you've tagged something, making it searchable. For example, looking at the #MeToo movement, one can track who started it when just by searching for the tag's usage.

English for New Media Text video

I made this video using Movie Maker. I took images from the internet and my own photos to create a collection of old and new media. The song, Make Your Dreams Reality by Scott Holmes, was obtained from Free Music Archive.

Old Media

I used to sit with my grandfather (retired) on days off school, and he would have me read the newspaper to him as best I could. Through his efforts, I was reading at a 4th grade level in the first grade. He taught me to look up words I didn't know in a dictionary. And we would keep a growing list of words we looked up--a practice I still follow today.

When my grandparents got satellite cable, I learned how to change channels, etc. quickly. My cousins and aunt thought it was unfair that I was in charge of the remote, but my grandfather shut them down when he handed her the remote and asked her to change the channel--She quickly realized she didn't know how.  "That's why she's in charge of the remote. She knows that thing better than I do." I couldn't have been older than 6 or 7. I was also the only one allowed to touch the VCR. It was a grumpy old thing that screamed like a banshee whenever it pleased.

The Sound of Silence--Disturbed

Byron and Chomper: The Beginning

Byron is a character I've made. He is a mischievous bear who, according to my family, likes to sneak into my room and read books while no one is looking. I consider him my muse.

Above, we see Byron with Maddie (left) and B (right).

What you are going to notice is that I have a lot of pictures of my bears. I have so many bears because I work at Build-A-Bear Workshop in Sioux Falls, SD.

But I have to say that it actually started long before that. Chomper the giraffe truly started it. I received Chomper as a Get Well Soon gift when I was three years old--making him 23 this year.