Blue Man HNT

It's funny how many of you didn't let me slide on the "date" comment. What can I tell you about her...? Well, obviously, she's drop-dead gorgeous. I wouldn't haul my cookies out in the current weather if she weren't! She's funny, she's smart, she's an absolute doll. She's tall (leggy), athletic, and swings a mean golf club. There's some things that we'll need to work around, though. She's originally from here, but now is living down in Bozeman. Which means she roots for the Bobcats. This old Griz will have to teach her which team is better! And for the most part, my family likes her, which is a good thing. I've known her for over 19 years. That's convenient, since she's only 19 years old!

I'm heading down to Bozeman tonight to pick up my niece and go see the Blue Man Group! I'll be by to check on you guys Thursday! EDIT: If you ever have a chance to check these guys out, you MUST go! Half music, half drama, half comedy, half visual overload. Yeah--that's too many halves. That's how good it is! I hope to have a picture or two up tomorrow.

---

This week's Mystery Guest is back from a recent stint as the MG not too terribly long ago (luck of the draw!). This time around, though, she's not going to reveal herself, sort of basking in the glow of anonymity! She's been enjoying the cold of the midwest, and finds that the occasional midday hot shower is just the thing she needs to bring a little sunshine into her life! Not quite the same sunshine she's used to, but she does know how to bring a little sunshine into OUR lives too!

---

"...the Other HNT" won't be posted until Thursday morning. Too many late submissions to get it ready for its regular posting time. Be sure to come back and check them all out! Of course, NSFW! EDIT: Well, I don't know if I put a hex on things, or what, but we only have two submissions this week. Thank you ladies!

---

IT'S THEME TIME AGAIN!! I'll let you know about that on Friday. I'm sure you're all a-twitter!

So who authorized THIS????

I have to pay more attention during staff meetings or something. All last week during the various equipment moves for the symphony, I kept hearing that the temperatures were supposed to be nearing the low 30s. It never made it past the teens. Then, at some point during the concert itself, it found its way up to 42!! Made the load-out that much nicer! All day Sunday, I don't think it ever got below 40, and was mid-40s for most of the day. Made it very nice to unload equipment from the truck. Only leaving two timpani to take to the heated, climate-controlled storage facility first thing Monday morning. It was still above 40 last night after leaving S3's house after a birthday dinner for my nephew.

So imagine my surprise this morning, waking up to "light snow" and -6 degrees (and a wind chill of -24)! What jackass OK'd THIS??? It is now 9AM, timpani have been delivered, highways have been closed east of town due to ZERO visibility, and the temperature is now COLDER! (-9/-34 wind chill) Maybe this is all just a bad dream...

---

The concert went very well. And was very well received. Just damned exhausting. I've said it before--the mental fatigue of two intense 3-hr rehearsals, and then a performance, in the span of about 26 hours is a killer. Then tack on the physical fatigue of setting up and tearing down--and you end up with one tired Os! I ended up sleeping until 10, and then napped from 12-3. Still ended up getting to bed early...

---

Happy to report that the farting fiddler didn't appear at the concert!

---

INJURY UPDATE--Unless I slip and break an ankle while returning the U-Haul, I'm happy to report that I've made it through this concert without injury, scratches, or spilled blood! I still have a chill in the body though, so if it turns into an all-out cold or worse, I'll have to tack it on to this concert...

---

I have a date Wednesday night! If the weather cooperates...

---

New beer recommendation--Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat. Not quite as good as the Flathead Cherry beer made by a Montana brewery, but you can buy the the Sam Adams in the store. MMMMMmmmmm!

Some Quick Observations While I Have a Moment...

Hmmm... I'm not usually ready to post on a Saturday afternoon, especially on the day of a concert, but I figured I'd better do it before I forgot what I wanted to write!

On the way to rehearsal this morning, I heard a commercial on the radio for a local non-profit. They put on a big fundraising dance each year that is sort of the first "fancy" social event of the year in town. The theme this year has something to do with Florence, Italy. The young woman reading the ad copy presented it quite nicely, though I noticed THREE glaring pronunciation mistakes:

escape - (ek-scape) - What??? I can't believe I heard it! I can't believe that someone allowed it to go on the radio. Or that people have allowed her to go through life pronouncing it that way!

et cetera - (ek cetera) - Another one that drives me nuts. Who is teaching these people??

Italian - (eye-talian) - I have no idea where this one comes from, but I'd say that half of all Montanans pronounce it this way. Is it that common elsewhere? Do we have any Italians out there that are offended when they hear it this way? I did check a couple of dictionaries online, and none of them offered this pronunciation as an option.

I don't know about you, but I tend to knock a couple of IQ points off of a person when I hear things like this. I know....but that's just who I am.

---

Speaking of rehearsal, there is nothing more rude than sitting in close quarters with 70 other musicians and silently passing gas the entire time. I don't know if I've ever discussed farts on this blog. I'd prefer not to. But, geez, someone had a nasty case of something this morning. Best way I could describe it would be to call them coffee farts. Definitely not beer farts or taco farts. Whatever they were, I hope they don't make an appearance (so to speak) tonight. The brass have alot of deep breathing they have to do. Nothing is worse than inhaling a big breath of toxic air!

---

The principal trombonist brought his daughter's order form for Girl Scout cookies (I can't believe that none of YOU have tried to peddle them online...). I'll be placing my order tonight, but $3.50 a box??? Remember the days when they were only a buck? Probably got more cookies back then, too!

---

INJURY UPDATE - So far, so good! I have a case of body chills I just can't get rid of, but I'm not sick. Just need to spend a long time under a hot shower. But no injuries! Granted, I have until Monday before the book closes on this concert, and the temps have reached a balmy 30 degrees, making everything much slicker than the past week, but so far, nothing! Keep your fingers crossed--I'll update again on Monday!

---

Time to jump into my monkey suit and make music. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Icy Cold HNT

Monday night.
10:40PM.
Helena Ave.
-15 degrees.
(That's -26 Celsius.)
Not including wind chill.
Wind around 10 mph.
Moving timpani.
By myself.
No gloves for 5 minutes.
Snowdrifts.
Blocking the door.
At 10:40PM.
Half-nekkid under coat.
And assorted layers.
Am I having fun yet?

---

This week's Mystery Guest lives in a much warmer part of the country, though she told me they were going to have "frost warnings", which apparently are a big deal where she's at. This is another lady who carries a gun, and definitely knows how to use it! Even though she's a peace-loving individual. She's not as active in HNT as she used to be, but still participates. She's an avid concert-goer, as well as world traveler, but is also quite content to run around nekkid in her back yard pool, or dancin' nekkid on the Vortex! She'll be revealed Thursday afternoon, but feel free to check her out ahead of time if you think you know who it is! Om mani padme hum.
Doing this a little earlier than usual, but she's already revealed herself on her site! Of course, today's Mystery Guest is DrM2B! Stop by and check out some of her other HNTs! BTW--I could use some more Mystery Guests. I'm running low!

---

"...the Other HNT" has another nice supply of pictures in need of some support in the way of comments! Mildly NSFW.

---

One of my favorite bloggers that I've met in person is the lovely Tara Tainton. Tara's birthday is today (Thursday), so be sure to stop over and leave some birthday wishes. I haven't been there yet, but I'm relatively certain she'll be wearing her birthday suit!

---

I'm sure many of you have noticed that Haloscan has been acting funny recently. Comments temporarily disappearing, or the comment count not matching the actual count of comments. Hopefully they get it figured out shortly!

---

I won't be around a great deal for the next few days--Sibelius and Nielsen call! I'll pop on when I can, though!

Stardate 12.25.08

I've always been a fan of science fiction movies, though not in a totally geeky way. I don't go to conventions dressed in my favorite stormtrooper outfit (and why would I, when we have Summer to do it for us?!?). But I own all the Star Wars DVDs. I'm not what most would consider a "Trekkie", though I really like the whole Star Trek phenomenon. Especially the original series (for as really hokey as it seems today).

But I saw this, and almost wet my pants...

Increasing My Jang, and Other Thoughts

Got spam yesterday telling me how I can (and should) increase the size of my jang. That's one I'd never heard.

---

S1 is visiting us this weekend. The family went to Macaroni Grill (new in Helena) Friday night, with the requisite beer/wine drinking at S2's house afterwards. We'll be doing the family dinner/stuff tonight at my parent's.

---

I generally keep a pretty tight lid on my frustrations. If I'm in traffic, and some jackass cuts me off or something, I don't flip him off or scream. I generally find things like that wasted, because I'm alone, and no one else will hear/see it. Wasted effort. I might THINK it, but I won't allow it to come out. Until recently. For some reason, I've been dropping the F-bomb out loud. Again, only while by myself, or out of the earshot of others. I don't know if that means I'm stressed, or just getting senile. Could be both, I suppose...

---

To those of you who send me things on Facebook, or send me messages on Myspace--it's not that I don't appreciate them. I do. But I don't spend a whole lot of time on either. Hell, I hardly have time for Blogger. Thank you, and feel free to keep sending me things, but don't take it personally if I don't send something back, OK?

---

Someone called while I was in the shower this morning. I checked the number and didn't recognize it, so I did what I always do on these sorts of occasions. I googled it (don't you just LOVE the use of that word as a verb?). The number was from Harvey, North Dakota. I don't know anyone in North Dakota, that I'm aware of. I'm not going to call back to find out who it was, but was it one of you??

---

I saw something that took me back to my youth in a movie recently. Do any of you remember the beanbag ashtrays? Dad (who smoked like a chimney until the late 60s, when he switched to a pipe) used to have two of them in the house--a red one and a green one. You could set them anywhere!

---

It's cold here today. And tomorrow we'll be lucky to get above zero. And we've finally gotten some snow. Oh, yes. It must be symphony week...

---

I flipped through channels the other night and found one of Boris Karloff's final screen appearances. What a dapper-looking gentleman he was! It's a shame that he was typecast into monster/mad scientist/evil roles. Even in this film (which, of course, I can't name), he played an actor who used to do monster movies. I've never really read up on him to see what his personality was like, but regardless--he was a fine looking man!

---

As mentioned earlier last week, my 3rd Blogaversary was yesterday. I didn't post anything to celebrate...

---

One of my favorite sites from off the beaten path featured pictures from her family's past. Pictures spanning the last century. Nothing spectacular--just scenes/people from the day. I'm stealing her idea, so look forward to that soon!

---

I received a very special CD in the mail on Friday. All I can say--"simply remarkable".

---

I generally listen to internet radio at work. The current station of choice is out of Seattle, and is described as "Solid Gold Super Hits". Now, I'm not sure what country some of these songs were considered as "Hits", let alone "Solid Gold Super Hits", but I've heard things I haven't heard in 40 years! And they go back as far as the early 60s! No, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but dammit, an occasional song by the Ray Conniff Singers isn't so bad! Plus a smattering of the Osmonds, Mark Lindsay, Donna Summer, and a whole host of others that had their 15 minutes of fame. And quite a bit of disco, too. It may be hokey, but it's fun to watch the people come through the office and see their ears perk up (is that possible?) when they recognize something they haven't heard in forever!

---

GO PACK!!!

---

GO CHARGERS!!!

HNT Superstar

This is a story about "Jesus Christ Superstar". The Andrew Lloyd-Webber rock opera. The one in the brown album cover (you know which one I'm referring to, don't you?!?). My mother purchased the album in 1970 to use as material for a religious ed class she was teaching. I was sure that she, and by extension, me, were going to Hell for this (not just hell, but hell with the capital "H"). She told me to listen to it sometime. Well, the extremely short story--I was hooked. To the point that I could sing every line and every word of every song. To the point that later on in life, I could boast of having 7 different recorded casts/versions of it.

At about this time 10 years ago, Carroll College was in the rehearsal stage for the performance of "Superstar". Pretty heady stuff for a Catholic institution, but we didn't have any lightning bolts strike us down or anything. I directed the pit orchestra for this, which consisted of a rock band, string section and brass and winds. As music director, I was also at the auditions, though more interest was paid to dramatic ability over vocal ability (which never made any sense to me...). Anyway, it was obvious who would play the major roles, and no one even came close to stepping into the role of King Herod. For those of you who don't know the music, or haven't seen the movie, King Herod has just one appearance. He provides a bit of comic relief, and his song is a honky-tonk plea for Jesus to work just one miracle for him. As the auditions ended, and each of us mentally placed actor to a role, the director turned and looked at me, and he didn't even need to verbalize it--I was to be King Herod. So in addition to the leading of the band, I got to sing and dance my way into the audience's hearts. In keeping with the spirit of the era in which it was written (late 60s), we all started growing our hair and beards and basically channeling the hippy in each of us. Granted, some of us relied on our past--the rest of the cast had to go ask Mom and Dad what a hippy was...

Ah, look at those curls! All natural, thankyouverymuch!

So what does that have to do with HNT?? Well, one of the fortunate individuals to experience my King Herod was none other than Moose. She got to see the long hair, the comedic dancing, and most of all, the god-awful purple and white striped pants I had to wear (think sort of like MC Hammer--can't touch this!). Anyway, the Broadway tour of "JCSS" is coming to Minneapolis in May, and she snagged us a couple of tickets in Row 4!! Starring Ted Neely as Jesus (he was Jesus in the movie version)! The only thing that would make it better would be having Carl Anderson in the role of Judas, but he died in 2004. Neely is twice as old as Jesus as it is!

So here I am, ten years later, with my confirmation printed out for my plane tickets! Sort of blurry like the old picture. Sans the curly hair...

---

This week’s mystery guest is that oh-so-rare of mystery guest genders…MALE!

He’s a native Bostonian transplanted to NY but wishes to soon seek warmer climes.

This long time HNTer is a musician, writer, artist, and all around bon vivant/renaissance man who hopes to make it big and settle down on a sailboat in the Caribbean to watch the sun go down with a virgin daiquiri and a pair of sexy not-so-virgin female crewmates.

He'll be revealed in the afternoon, but if you can figure it out, go say hi to him! Well, this one wasn't apparently too hard to pick out. That's the way it goes sometimes.... Of course, it's Keyser Soze! Go say hi if you haven't been over there!

---

Another nice selection for "...the Other HNT" this week. Be sure to stop by and check out your fellow HNTers! Yes, it's NSFW.

---

For those who have expressed such an outpouring of concern...I am currently using my newly acquired power cord!

---

Saturday marks the third anniversary of this blog. If you're so inclined to celebrate that, then go right ahead! I don't plan to. Let me just say that my Sitemeter count hit 600K last week. I find that mind boggling! Now if I really just had something to say...

An Observation. Or Two.

Having no computer access sucks.

As mentioned Thursday, my power cord to the Powerbook shorted out. A new one is on its way, currently floating somewhere in FedEx hell. I got the email from Mom on Monday that she needed hers back, so since yesterday afternoon, I've relied on battery power. Fortunately, I had a rehearsal last night and got home late, so I didn't have alot of time to surf. And knowing that the battery wouldn't last as long as I'd like, I tried to ration my time. Check in on only my "must-see" sites, as well as my emails. And maybe a quick late night chat or two. And then I'd turn it off so that I could do the same thing in the morning.

Forty-five minutes. That's how long my battery lasted. I had expected a minimum of twice that.

On the plus side--I was in bed before midnight last night, and got an awful lot accomplished this morning before leaving for work!

I hope Mom lets me borrow hers again tonight...

A Post

I was told I needed to do an upbeat post. I don't see it happening. Not that it's depressing. More along the lines of boring. I'll do my best...

---

Lord, I'd love to see a Green Bay/San Diego Super Bowl. If it's New England/New York, I might not even bother watching it...

---

My 2-yr contract with Verizon was about to expire, so I went to re-up. No real question about that, since AT&T doesn't serve Montana, and there's no word on the horizon that Apple will open up the iPhone to other carriers. So I got my free upgrade on my phone, and I also re-worked my plan for less minutes, but unlimited texts/pix. So start sending my your cell phone pix!

---

Speaking of Apple, the annual and much anticipated MacWorld starts Monday. It's the big day when Steve Jobs shows the world all the new and exciting products for the year. My heart's all a-flutter!

---

Rehearsals start this week for the symphony concert in 2 weeks, so you know how excited I'm going to be, especially next week!

---

Geez...this was more boring than I thought. Maybe something good will happen this week!

A Blogger's Goodbye

I was out checking some of my links in my sidebar, and came across an entry by E.E. Probably not someone that many of you know, but anyhoo... She posted an amazing link of a blogger's goodbye. Not your run-of-the-mill, I'm-tired-of-blogging, I've-been-found-out sort of goodbye. This is the goodbye of Maj. Andrew Olmsted who was sent to Iraq, and had a friend post it in the event of his death. Which has apparently happened. In doing some quick searching, he was fairly well-known among many bloggers. The outpouring of hundreds upon hundreds of comments on another site that reported it is a testament to the number of readers that knew him.

It's a good read. And bone-chilling. It's not a rant, or political. Just a man's thoughts about his final thoughts. He reflects on his choices, and talks about his strengths and weaknesses. He sort of predicts how he would die. And he talks about his wife. And blogging. And other things.

Other than writing a will, I don't think any of us really reflect on our lives like he has, or have the opportunity (obviously) to share it with those that he knew would be most affected by his life, both online and real. Perhaps it seems natural to anyone who is about to engage in a life-threatening experience to write something like this. Musicians rarely have to face that sort of thing. I imagine the rest of us will read it, think about what a wonderful idea it is, but never get around to doing anything similar. Sort of like writing a will. There's always "tomorrow". We'll get around to it, eventually. I'm too busy to do it right now. Funny how this came to my attention exactly one year after last year's events...

Check it out here. I think you'll be glad you did.

Windblown HNT

No, that's not me. That's Leesa. She's been mentioned on this site on numerous occasions. She's even taken care of HNT for me on weeks that I had conflicts. And you guys never even noticed! Anyway, she's a photographer. Dare I say it--a GREAT photographer. She's even gotten some pictures published internationally! One who spends the time to learn her craft, nay, her profession. She's constantly trying new lenses, new techniques, new ways to use Photoshop. Truly dedicated to her camera. And probably my favorite person on either side of the lens.

This is one of the pictures she's got posted on her Flickr site. I love it. While she always finds some quote to add to her pictures, she said that for this particular one, she had the quote first, and then took a picture specifically for it. She talks about how she set it up, using the fan to get her hair out like that. As I'm reading this, and trying to figure out what to do for HNT, it hit me. What higher form of flattery is there than to imitate another's work? So that's when I decided to do just that.

I have learned some things from this project. I suck. I desperately need to get my hands on a digital SLR camera. While point and shoot is convenient, it's not photography. While I can blame the camera for some of it, I also have to blame my lack of skills. Granted, it's harder to reproduce someone else's settings and poses, especially on your own, but I just couldn't quite capture the same image. So I made due with what I took. Where hers appears in a softer focus, I went with the sharper one. Where she's got alot of beautiful hair, well, my beard is beautifully colored! And while her skin looks so soft and inviting, I should have shaved...

Inspired from the picture above, but all my own... BTW, I really DID have the fan on like she did. Can't you tell??

(Pssst...click it!)

---

This week's Mystery Guest has been with us before. She's not blogging like she used to, but still gets around to check out her favorites here. Those of you who have been around for awhile might remember her as a popular sex blogger for awhile. I've seen that some of you still have her linked in your own sidebars. While her blogging style has changed, she still as sexy as ever! I'll be revealing her on Thursday afternoon. Enjoy!
Well, it's a little later than afternoon, but I've been busy. Cut me some slack! The lovely MG this week is former HNTer Leela Lamore! You might remember her from when she pulled a Britney (before Britney) and shaved her long blond hair off, just for something to do! No blog to link to, but she pops up occasionally on the anonymous site, and comments from time to time!

---

We got a good batch of submissions for "...the Other HNT" this week. A little bit of something for everyone! Of course, it's NSFW, but you should check it out when you can...nothing really nasty! As always, please leave a comment or two! Your fellow HNTers would appreciate it!

---

Spent most of the day today dealing with a computer crisis. Not so much the computer, but my power cord. It shorted out last night, leaving me running on battery, until I dried that up! Unfortunately, the nearest Apple store is about 600 miles away, and you can't really bop down to Walmart or Targét to pick up a new one. Of course, you can't just use any adapter, either... Anyway, Mom pulled through again. She's letting me use hers until I get a new one. I'll be ordering that online tonight, thankyouverymuch.

---

Still no real snow to speak of here. Leesa's getting it all!

Interview by Cosima

Well, this is fairly embarrassing. Way back in September, I think, I saw that Cosima had done an interview meme. She asked for volunteers to interview, and I cheerily threw my hat into the ring. Then promptly spaced it out until I found the questions in an old email. Sorry 'bout that....

A time capsule will be buried in Helena, and you are chosen to put an item inside. It should tell future finders something about the time you lived in, but more importantly should show what was important to you personally. What would you choose? I think it would probably be a bunch of horn arrangements for In Cahoots. I don't have a creative bone in my body, but I can certainly plagiarize and re-work the prior works of others! These are as close to ME as anything I've ever done. In fact, I had a bunch of them stolen out of my car a number of years ago. The ones that weren't stored on my computer were either lost for good, or took obscene hours to re-write. Yet when the cop asked for their value--it came to $20 worth of paper... You just can't put a price on the hours upon hours of work spent on them.

Why and when did you start to play the trombone? Is there a musical piece that holds special significance for you? I was actually a tuba major through college. Upon my first teaching gig, I found myself in a small town, with a small (but very good) band. Since the price of a tuba is similar to the price of a small car, I didn't own my own. Plus a trombone is alot easier to carry around. So I didn't start until I was well on my way to 23. I picked the bass trombone specifically, since the mouthpiece and tubing were larger, similar to the tuba. As for a musical piece with special significance--there's so many, and for different reasons. Some rock, some country, some jazz, some classical. The one that stands out in my mind right now would be the Waltz of the Flowers from "The Nutcracker". It played in the background (on repeat) during the first intimate moments with a particular young lady who shall remain nameless. Didn't go anywhere, but I'll always remember the moment and the music!

You wake up on a hard prison bed. As you try to remember what brought you there, your cell door opens and a guard tells you that you will be able to make exactly one phone call to a person you know. Who do you call? Been there, done that. I'd call Mom. I've always been close to her, and she seems to take bad news in stride. And she can almost always make things better!

You are going on a photographic assignment that will last one week. Equipment and expenses will be paid, and you are allowed shoot pictures of whatever you like. Where would you go, and what kind of pictures would you take? New Zealand, probably, to take nature/landscape pictures. It's a beautiful country, incredibly diverse, and Tara has already invited me there once she moves!

What’s your perfect Sunday morning? Well, primarily, waking up! Then kicking back, not worrying about any responsibilities, and maybe getting a steak & eggs breakfast served to me by the love of my life. Once I find her....

Don't ask me to continue the meme--I can't ask decent questions... Hope you got a little insight out of this though!

Shaking Things Up

I had an interesting message left for me on another internet social networking service. Asking if I was OK, and that I didn't seem like "myself". That I haven't been posting much (which, going back, is true....). So I'm here to leave a bulleted list (you know how I love those!):

• A change-up with my background picture. If anyone out there wants to revamp mine, let me know! Maybe we can have a contest...
• I was 50/50 with my NFL teams, but my west coast teams won! I have mixed feelings going into next weekend. I prefer any of the NFC teams over any of the AFC teams. I'd love to see the Seahawks continue to win, but my fantasy playoff team is heavy with the Cowboys and Packers.
• It's been a nice break away from the symphony for the past couple of weeks. Technically I have another week away, but I've got a little work to do before then.
• I'm having company in early February, which means I need to clean up around here. Should be just enough time...
• Heading to MN to see Moose in early May. Gotta find cheap plane tickets--HA!
• In going through my archives at the end of the year, I went back to look at some of the comments/commenters. Amazing how many of them are no longer around, or who have been forgotten.
• Along those lines--I've heard from 4 or 5 bloggers who have all but quit. Remember HeatherS or Mara? Both put up posts since the New Year! Phain is back, too!
• We got a slight dusting of snow last night. I'd complain, but there's too many of you who wouldn't really appreciate that. But we had two days this past week above 50 degrees. Gotta love winter in Montana (well, parts of it...)!
• Noticed that many of you, as I, were caught off-guard for HNT due to the extended holidays. Hope we all get back into the swing of things! I've got this week's MG taken care of, but I'm needing new ones after that...
• Many nice submissions to the "Collection" after my third year of shameless begging! Just remember--the "Collection" is always accepting submissions!
• Horror of horrors (and I'm sure to hear from Leesa on this...), but I went to take pics the other day, and my batteries were run down. No problem--I'll just use the second set I've got. You guessed it. Dead. Needless to say, they're all charged up now!
• This will probably go over most of your heads, but a friend of mine transferred a bunch of out-of-print Tim Weisberg albums to CD. Love it!
• Could have finished up my Christmas cards this weekend, but didn't. I still have faith that I'll get them done before the end of the month though!

Sorry--that's about as exciting as I can get. This is why I haven't posted much... To the one that was concerned--I'm OK! Thanks for checking on me though!

The Process of HNT

To understand Os' HNTs, one must understand the process. Ideas are generated weeks in advance. Research is done regarding the feasibility of the ideas. Once that has been determined, schedules are checked and photoshoots are penciled in. Preliminary shots are taken and market research is done under double secret conditions to determine how succesful the pictures might be. Once a viable candidate is chosen, decisions are made regarding any digital enhancement that might need to be done, alternate poses, or if an entire re-shoot is necessary. Finally, one last round of screenings are done, and the picture or pictures are posted at least by the weekend prior to the HNT in question, in case last minute changes are required.

Or sometimes it's just a crapshoot taken at the last minute. Like tonight. I was totally unprepared for tonight! This is taken up the bell of my horn (Amy). Click it to big it to get the full effect.

---

I was very excited when tonight's Mystery Guest wanted in on the action. She got started slowly with HNT over a year ago, and wasn't very consistent. She was in the midst of many changes in her life, her job and her family. I sort of lost track of her for a bit, then come to find out that she'd up and moved to a different part of the country! A much different part than where she'd been. Since her move, she's gotten back into HNT, continued her changes with her jobs, and is working on getting her photography skills back to the high level that they were (still needs work on her lighting...). I'll reveal her Thursday afternoon, but for now, just think of her as some chick.
The week's MG is Ms Behavin' from over at Seat Next To You. Be sure you stop by to check her out. She might need a little help with her back...

---

"...the Other HNT" this week has two different series continuing, a couple of newbies, and a nice mix for both the men and the women. Very definitely NSFW this week! Check them out anyway, and leave some lovin'!

---

This is the last time this season that I'll make a special request for donations to the "Collection". Thank you to those of you who sent something in, either as first-timers, or to add to your previous ones. Those of you who were thinking about it--now is the time! As always, I'm more than happy to accept them at any time!

---

Hope you all had a festive and safe New Year's Eve!

Birthday in the Land of Pooka

(Charlie and Pooka)

Way across the pond, in a land far, far away, there lived a beautiful young princess named Charlie. Charlie roamed the lands near and far--skiing their slopes, lying on their beaches, and making friends all over. Then one day, she jumped onto Blogger, and soon a new alliance was born. She was able to visit lands and make friends in places that she wasn't necessarily able to visit. She used strange words and phrases and endeared herself to those she met. And all was right in the world.

Over time, Princess Charlie shared pictures of her land (Pookalookaville), her travels and her family. And best of all, of herself and her dolphins. When she was goofy or sad or happy or jumping on beds. And the friends were happy. But not all was rosy in Charlie's world. She thought her pictures were less than acceptable. She thought she was a bad person. And worst of all, her beloved father was getting sicker.

Charlie has a birthday today. She thinks she's too old to celebrate it. And granted, things aren't all skittles and beer these days. But I told her we weren't going to let her get away with that. Go over now and wish her good thoughts and a happy birthday! I know she'll love it!

Happy Birthday, Charlie! We love ya!