aprillee

says

racethom says

How was it?

posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )

racethom says

Quickies or not, it'll be fun to see what you came up with :)

My daughter was fully frisked when she was just around 10 or so.
She always looked younger than her age too.

Have fun at the convention.

posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )

racethom says

Oh I don't know about all bunnies being cute. Have you seen the wild jack rabbit? It looks like a werebunny :D My grandfather, who is from a different country, used to raise fighting rabbits. Believe me, you didn't want to get remotely close to those cages.

In regards to gas ... it's all relative. When I was in Belgium back around five or six years ago, the prices were $8 a gallon.

Wow! It must be nice to have the house paid off. Every time my husband and I get close to that stage, something happens and we have to re-mortgage.

Regarding taxes: WHY did we choose to have a wedding on the day before it's due? Now all anniversaries are associated with taxes :(

Oooo! The sci-fi convention sounds fun! Do you have your design up somewhere? (BTW: My E-mail refuses to take Shelfari anything anymore so don't try to send me any personal messages.)

Yeah ... 9/11 has totally spoiled flying ... then we have the economy hitting the pocketbooks of the airlines too.

posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )

racethom says

Thanks :) I found it on deviantart.com. Apparently the photographer's brother's girlfriend has this baby bunny as a pet. I was looking for Easter or April related icons.

I've been doing fine. Actually, things are looking better now. My workplace is super busy and we've doubled our workforce (although it's all temporary workers since we don't know if the upturn is permanent). My husband's firm is super busy all of a sudden. Two weeks ago, they were worried about not having enough to do. Now they're wondering if they can meet all the deadlines ... and can't find qualified people to help them.

Mind you, we also know plenty of friends and family that are losing jobs too but it's at a slower rate AND we're hearing more and more about people finding jobs again.

Our son is still with his fiancee (thank goodness since we think she's good for him). Our grandson is finally talking (mild autism maybe). Our daughter is doing great and LOVES her change in majors into the Interiors program in the UT Austin College of Architecture.

How has your life been lately?

posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )

racethom says

Hi! Are you still around?

posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )

Choccy says

Hi Ap, merry xmas and happy new year!

never mind about the late reply, better late than never, rite? :D

I think the last book is just OK. I love the new characters but the more I think, I feel that I'd rather read Temeraire's adventure in British soil. or at least Europe. I hope their next adventure in the Americas would not be as boring and repetitive as this Aussie adventure.

posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )

Keta Diablo says

No worries about being late in replying. I full well know how life gets in the way.

I'm off to look at your web site, but yes, you should think about doing ebook covers as ebooks have exploded on the Internet everywhere. So many people are turning to ebooks now with all the new technology.

Best, Keta
http://www.ketadiablo.com
Author of best-selling paranormal Where The Rain Is Mad
Amazon KINDLE: http://www.amazon.com/Where-Rain-Made-ebook/dp/B0041847FG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1293777243&sr=8-1

posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )

Dave H says

aprillee hi, as a fantasy/adventure aficionado myself I want to recommend a few you may not have read as yet. "The First Law Trilogy" by Joe Abercrombie, "The Riyria Revelations Series" by Michael J. Sullivan, "The Fourth Realm Travellers Trilogy" by John Twelve Hawks, and "The Night Angel Trilogy" by Brent Weeks. Enjoy and READ ON...

posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )

Keta Diablo says

Hi aprillee,

Thanks so much for adding me.

I'm so impressed with all your degrees. What an accomplishment!

And you're an artist/illustrator. Do you have a web site for that, and have you branched into making book covers at all? With the explosion of ebooks, I think this is a very thriving business.

I'd love to visit your web site if you have one,

Thanks again, and have a wonderful week, Best, Keta
http://ketadiablo.com

posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )

Choccy says

Hi Ap, how are you?
Hope everything's ok. I just want to check whether you've read the new Temeraire novel, Tongues of Serpents and would really really like to know your opinion :P

Cheers,
Choccy

posted 2 years ago. ( send a note )

racethom says

I'm not much in the sculpting department but one of my favorite artists (when you see the works in real life, not in photos) is Rodin. OMG! He just gets to the essence of things. Okay ... sometimes a bit overdramatically.

The other artist I really enjoy is Dali. If you ever get to St.Petersburg, FLA, go to the Dali museum. Photos don't do them justice. There are some things that just don't photograph well.

Amy T.

posted 3 years ago. ( send a note )

racethom says

Funny ... :)
My favorite things to draw are faces and hands.

Amy T.

posted 3 years ago. ( send a note )

racethom says

My husband has his architecture license. I don't. I got sidetracked by motherhood (although I've also always worked full time in an architecture office) then lost interest in persuing the license. I've been in the field since I graduated in 1981.

Reading is great :) It's my sanity saver.

Amy T.

posted 3 years ago. ( send a note )

racethom says

Well, I stuck it out in architecture and am pretty happy with it.
Translation: I can't think of too many things I'd rather be in that I wouldn't have a big chance of starving to death in [g]

The computer graphics I was interested in would have led me straight into the "non-entertainment" end of computer graphics.
I was interested in the programming portion of the work.
It would have led to participating in the development of software for the graphics industry.

Naturally enough, I'd still have to have the other more "art creative" vs. "science/technology creative" portions of the work too.
A day without creating something would be like death.

Amy T.

Amy T.

posted 3 years ago. ( send a note )

racethom says

Timing is everything.
I was going to go to grad school for computer graphics with architecture and engineering applications.
I wish I'd gone through with it.
The timing would have been absolutely perfect.
I got a little sidetracked by marriage and kids ... which I don't regret.

Amy T.

posted 3 years ago. ( send a note )

racethom says

How was the job market when you got out of college with your various degrees?
What types of jobs did you land?

Amy T.

posted 3 years ago. ( send a note )

racethom says

We'd visited the tiny communities that those various schools are located in. (That was a very awkward sentence ... Oh well.) Anyway ... I had my worries as to how she'd do in those areas after having been raised in the 4th largest city and having all the activities and resources available here. On the other hand, change does a body good too.

She actually loves the idea of the Liberal Arts since she sees everything as being interconnected. She was going to be an English lit (because she's interested in the subject, not as a fallback major) with a minor or double major in Art History or something similar. She did look up the various programs in the schools she applied to and changed her major of choice given their strengths and weaknesses.

I asked her what she'd like to do as an adult. She's not sure. Some things that she really liked the thought of are: museum curator, children's book author/illustrator, librarian in a library system, something to do with art galleries ... Yup, she's a self avowed "nerd".

The "Fellows" thing is just a fancy way of saying that she's in a special section of that program ... just fancy wording.

Amy T.

posted 3 years ago. ( send a note )

racethom says

She's not so much going for the name as for the high academics. It's funny. She says that the concept of the Ivy League schools scares her so she planned to NOT apply to any of them. She also didn't look up the names to find out which ones they were. She did end up applying to one Ivy League and a lot of "Little Ivys". She wanted to have a good Liberal Arts education in a school with high academic standards. Some of the schools she applied to fit that criterion. Some of the schools were "safety schools". She was disappointed with the rejections. They all said that there simply weren't enough spaces availalbe. Two said to basically try again. She thinks they're just being nice. I told her that they usually say upfront if she didn't meet the criterion (because I've seen those other types of letters). Not accepted: Dartmouth, Amherst, University of Virginia, and Williams.

She's getting more excited about UT now. She couldn't get into the Honors colleges there either (due to too many applicants) but was offered a position in a special program. When she applied for that one, she was then offered a Fellows position (offered to only 6% of the applicants). We didn't know what that was but she called and got more information. It's for students that they feel are very academically motivated. She's accepted although the director told her quite frankly that she's overqualified for the position. Okaaaayyy. Hmmm. Well, I guess she could reapply for Honors next year. I'm confused and so is she.

In the meantime, it struck her that a huge (80,000+) school actually gives her more choices in majors. She's thinking of going into Interior Design instead ... which is in the College of Architecture ... which is exactly where both she and our son / her brother both said they'd NOT go into because having a mom and dad in the field was enough :D

Amy T.

posted 3 years ago. ( send a note )

racethom says

The college app process was ridiculous. I helped my daughter with hers. I figured out which forms were required and the status of the various applications. (She tried to fill out 11.) I also did the prefill like name and address, etc. She did the substantial stuff especially all the essays and getting the recommendations. She was SO hoping that someone would let her in. She just kept getting letters telling her that she's qualified but that there weren't enough positions open ... including honors colleges in one of the schools that accepted her application. She did get accepted to her 4 "safety" schools, waitlisted at 2 schools (Rice & William&Mary), and didn't finish the app for 1 school (Mt. Holyoke). Oh well. She tried. She'll be going to UT Austin ... which is a strong school.

posted 3 years ago. ( send a note )