Fable: The Musings of a Mad Brain

Picked up a clicker to conduct some clicker-training. Always wanted to try this, but for some reason...

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:30:01 -0700

Picked up a clicker to conduct some clicker-training. Always wanted to try this, but for some reason had never gotten the equipment.

Wow does this work well.

Ada picked up “click = good” within two shots. I already taught her a new trick, and she’s now listening for a click instead of looking for a treat. Searching for treats over listening for reinforcement was the main bane of my prior training method. I could get an animal to listen, but often it was by dangling the treat in front of them. That’s just not useful if you’re working with something which isn’t naturally inclined to mind humans.

Like birds.

Creating a click association with the caiques was a bit tougher. At first, the click spooked them. But they got used to it fairly quickly. Hear a click, get a peanut. Enzo picked it up and I got her to target to a pencil after a few minutes. Isaac though thinks the pencil is the devil. She refused to get near it, even while watching Enzo get treats for touching it. Isaac just stared at her, slit-eyed, looking as suspicious as a parrot can manage. She touched it once, but wouldn’t repeat the effort.

I’ll keep strengthening the click association for the caiques and work on more target training. This will be most useful to accustom them to new cages or toys with less stress.

Ada once again proves she’s perfect dog. Go Ada!

Making of “Alpacalypse”

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:32:46 -0700

Making of “Alpacalypse”

I’m breaking in, shaping up, then spitting at the farmer’s...

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:24:30 -0700

I’m breaking in, shaping up, then spitting at the farmer’s truck
This is it, the alpacalypse
Whoa

Available on Redbubble as a super cool shirt!

Also available, individual characters!

New shirt design I’m working on, based on a pun Clint said...

Wed, 15 May 2013 19:57:15 -0700

New shirt design I’m working on, based on a pun Clint said so dumb that it NEEDED to be realized.

Different takes on my character’s portrait for...

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:10:48 -0700

Different takes on my character’s portrait for Toulouse’s Streetfighter collaboration.

Zanier. no, ZANIER!

Streetfighter portraits

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:09:45 -0700

Streetfighter portraits:

Toulouse asked if I wanted to be part of her big Streetfighter style “artist select screen” collaboration. Finally getting some work done on that! Come watch me make the big and small portraits.

Dryspaghetti's Awesome Pie Blog! (on writing): Editor for Sale

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:35:54 -0700

Dryspaghetti's Awesome Pie Blog! (on writing): Editor for Sale:

dryspaghetti:

Hello. My name is Clint Pereira and I’m looking to be your editor.

I am a house-trained English tutor with a published novel called North of Armageddon. I’ve worked in writing circles with published authors and have guided young student writers to write stories published in a writing…

Go get some work done by super good writer guy! He needs some money because times are tough for a tutor in the summer.

Lamia’s fantasy

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:17:08 -0700

Lamia’s fantasy

I gave that cutie a kiss. Cuties love kisses.

Sun, 12 May 2013 21:10:51 -0700

I gave that cutie a kiss. Cuties love kisses.

So Silver, I heard you like apples….

Sun, 12 May 2013 20:41:13 -0700

So Silver, I heard you like apples….

Both birds out on leashes for the first time together, second...

Sun, 12 May 2013 14:33:00 -0700

Both birds out on leashes for the first time together, second time on their leashes each. MUCH easier to get it on them the second time, both because I was more experience and they, while not happy to have a loop placed over their heads, were far better about the process. They’re both very good about letting me adjust the band so it’s snug and comfy.

Dog came out too but she’s not in the pic. So three leashed animals at once. Woo!

source Coyote inspiration :) Chopper riding daddy now canon.

Sat, 11 May 2013 20:41:58 -0700

source

Coyote inspiration :)

Chopper riding daddy now canon.

wolfwindcreationsrebloggedyour photo:Enzo’s first time out on a leash The fact that they make bird...

Sat, 11 May 2013 13:51:08 -0700

wolfwindcreations rebloggedyour photo:Enzo’s first time out on a leash

The fact that they make bird leashes is just totally awesome to me. How difficult was it to get her used to that?

Pretty much takes sitting around with the leash for a bit to make sure she’s not convinced it’s literally Satan (birds are very suspicious of new things, even if curious). When she’s comfortable enough to poke at it and have it touch her without flipping a shit, I slip the harness on and immediately take her outside to show it means “outside time”. I don’t recommend doing that unless your bird is already comfortable with you holding them and manipulating their wings. It’s easiest for everyone if your parrot is happy being held.

It also helped that the moment it was on, she was too stunned by the sensation of “clothes” to do much more than sit in my hand and pick at it while I made adjustments for maximum comfort. And once outside, she was mostly too into checking the world out to mind the harness. It was the same for Isaac who had an outing last week already.

It was harder to get the thing off than on. The piece that goes around the neck is very secure and you need to hold your bird’s head to manipulate it out. The feathers naturally lock it in place, so you gotta dig it out of those neck feathers and pull it over the skull.

Enzo’s first time out on a leash

Sat, 11 May 2013 13:24:34 -0700

Enzo’s first time out on a leash

Looking to do a cross country trek. Anybody interested in a visit? No promises, just curious who...

Fri, 10 May 2013 16:11:49 -0700

Looking to do a cross country trek. Anybody interested in a visit? No promises, just curious who might want to meet me, my dog, parrots, and possibly my boyfriend.

spacecricket: Hyperbole and a Half posted again, and everyone...

Thu, 09 May 2013 18:08:21 -0700

spacecricket:

Hyperbole and a Half posted again, and everyone needs to read it because:

If you are depressed, it will resonate with you like whoa.

If you are not depressed, it will clarify some stereotypes about depression that need to be said. An explanation like this has been needed for a LONG time.

If you know someone who is depressed, you’ll be better at interacting with them after reading this.

Welp my dad has blatantly ignored all my words to family and him about my depression and anxiety in...

Thu, 09 May 2013 16:47:00 -0700

Welp my dad has blatantly ignored all my words to family and him about my depression and anxiety in favor or claiming I’m a scam artist and want to be lazy, snitching money from him or my siblings in favor of sitting on my butt on some government paid vacation.

Wow gee thank you that’s exactly what I needed right now let me just fix my brain there we go. Yep. Good as new. Sorry I asked for the bare minimum of your thoughts on anything whatsoever. It must be terribly inconvenient for you.

This is about me wanting nothing more than to be a couch potato for life. Sure let’s go with that. Suicidal thoughts and wanting to not exist are not relevant.

*sniff*

I feel like I don’t have a family most the time.

I’m tired today

Thu, 09 May 2013 16:35:18 -0700

I’m tired today

plutonis: robotlyra: batchix: awesome-everyday: shorter...

Thu, 09 May 2013 10:21:58 -0700

plutonis:

robotlyra:

batchix:

awesome-everyday:

shorterexcerpts:

thecallus:

theatlantic:

The Cheapest Generation: Why Aren’t Millennials Buying Cars or Houses?

What if Millennials’ aversion to car-buying isn’t a temporary side effect of the recession, but part of a permanent generational shift in tastes and spending habits? It’s a question that applies not only to cars, but to several other traditional categories of big spending—most notably, housing. And its answer has large implications for the future shape of the economy—and for the speed of recovery.

Read more. [Image: Kagan McLeod]

It’s safe to say that a decent number of Tumblr users are a part of the Millennial generation. So, tell us: Do you own a car or house? If not, why?

IT’S BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO DISPOSABLE INCOME YOU THUNDERING IDIOTS. Fucking preference has nothing to do with it. 50% of college graduates have no job! They all have the most student loan debt ever! What are you asking this question for?!

Also: housing is a good bit more expensive now.

My parents got a 15-year mortgage on a new house in the mid-70s. The house was $32,000. Average home price in that area now? $190,000.

So, home prices went up. Food prices went up. Health care prices went WAY UP. Rent prices went up. Higher education went up so damn high that some of us forgo that all together. Energy prices went up. Car prices went up.

Prices of prices went up.

We also pay cell phone bills, internet bills, data plans, text plans, online subscriptions, cable/satellite tv, netflix, DVR subscriptions — bills that didn’t even exist 30-40 years ago. We also use computers and smartphones and microwaves and other consumer electronics that didn’t exist 20-50 years ago.

We need medications and doctors and contact lenses and tampons and maxi pads and other things that cost money just to be alive and keep us healthy.

Most of us can’t afford to:

Get married and have a “Traditional” big wedding

Buy a house

Buy a new car

PLAN to have children

Take two, consecutive weeks of vacation.

Jobs that paid 50k in the late 1990s now pay between 30-35. Interest rates that favor consumers have gone down.

So I say, no. We are not choosing not to buy homes. We’re not choosing to take the bus in cities where there’s no good public transit. WE ARE NOT CHOOSING TO LIVE WHAT SOCIETY DEEMS AS AN UNDESIRABLE LIFESTYLE.

Don’t even get me started on the fact that these two people in the picture are young white hipsters. Young black and brown folks have been forgoing homeownership and buying new cars for decades, this shit isn’t new, pal. You’re just acting like this shit is new because it’s hitting white folks.

anyway, my point is: We are fucking broke.

There’s also the fact that buying a house ties you to one spot. Jobs are so transient, you have to be able to move for a new job in case you lose your current one. the lady who does our taxes can’t understand why we don’t own a house. We’ve moved four times in the last six years. once across the states to california, then from LA to San Jose, then a short move to RC because my husband’s job moved to San Francisco. Can you imagine if we were trying to buy and sell houses in those places every time we moved? It’d be insane!

I’ll never get over the state of hostile confusion from the previous generations when our lifestyles depart from theirs. We don’t do this stuff because it’s FASHIONABLE, we do it because it’s either that or STARVE.

It’s absolutely ludicrous that anyone would pin the life changes people have had to make on TREND and not on what’s absolutely NECESSARY. What everyone else has said up there pretty much sums it up. My parents were getting paid more in their profession in the 70s than what companies are paying them now. We lost our home back in 2008 and have had to cram five people into an apartment ever since. The rent for this place is high; we have just enough to pay for rent each month, and we’re often behind on bills simply because we don’t have the money to pay them. We eat very cheap — bread and soup, more often than not, and this has been going on for years. My mom has to do all freelance work because she can’t take on a regular, in-house job because someone always has to be around to watch my youngest sister, whom is mentally delayed. The only job I’ve been able to get within the last year and half has been a little coffee place that pays crap. I’ve got a lot of medical expenses on top of this and try to help my parents out when I can.

Don’t you DARE even JOKE that people are not spending prices on high market items/houses/etc. because they don’t want to. It’s because we CAN’T.

I think I’m the best paid out of all my friends and even I can’t claim more than maybe lower middle class lifestyle, at best. Forget a house, I’m not sure how I can afford more than a single bedroom apartment even WITH a roomate. The thought of children makes me ill not because I’m against the possibility, but the cost of being pregnant and raising a child is insurmountable right now. I have to tailor my lifestyle to maximum mobility in case shit crashes around me and I have to chase jobs across state or even country lines. Kids aren’t conducive to that. Houses aren’t either.

Hell, I was iffy about purchasing a /fridge/. A fridge was nearly too big a commitment. It can’t fit in my car if I decide to move again. For the first time in years I bought furniture which might last more than 5 years because I realized I wasn’t going to move in 12 months.

A house is a pipe dream for me. A distant thought I dare not fantasize about because it depresses me so greatly. Family is small and local. I can’t visit my family across the country more than once a year because of travel costs. I’m utterly disconnected from my roots because there was no job prospects for me there in my field.

And yet somehow I’m in a better position than most my friends, some of whom have ended up forgoing food for days, or even homeless. The fact that I live independently with only one roomate (boyfriend), have a roof over my head, and I’m able to save even a little money and pay my bills is the exception of my generation, not the rule.

And I came from an upper middle class family. I had the headstart and I’m floundering anyway. Those who didn’t…shit.

Quick char design thing I did for an old friend for some forum...

Wed, 08 May 2013 23:21:48 -0700

Quick char design thing I did for an old friend for some forum rp thinger. The palette design wasn’t my idea, but I had more free reign on the overall shape. So this happened.

Skeevy eat you wolfy lady.