Wow, your hair looks gorgeous in that picture Anais!  Big, soft wavey curls, so pretty.

Some fabulous works by French painter Cali Rezo who has an appreciation for long hair.


"Volutes"


"Psycho"

ORANGE CREME CHEESECAKE (did I post this yet?)

Crust:
1/3 lb graham crackers (I don't know! my original typed-up recipe is missing the number here)
2 tbsp brown sugar
¼ cup butter
2 tsp cinnamon

Filling:
16 oz. cream cheese, generic is fine
3 eggs with the white stringy yolk-tails removed
cup orange juice, no pulp
½ to ¾ can of sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand is good)

Topping:
peeled slices of oranges OR sliced strawberries are good,
or
1 x 8.25-oz. can of mandarin oranges (1 can is good for entire cake)

Crush graham crackers; mix with brown sugar and cinnamon. Add to softened butter (soft but still thicker than sour cream). Mix with spoon until even. Press into bottom of 8-inch round nonstick pan, or 8x12 inch is probably okay too. Set aside.

In a blender, put in all ingredients IN THE ORDER THEY'RE LISTED. Blend until completely smooth.
Pour into crust, bake for 40-50 minutes at 350° F until it springs up when gently pressed. Leave to cool (takes a few hours) then decorate. Refrigerate for a few hours.



Hair. I messed up the curl pattern again by going back to the usual single-braiding. I caved in today and added oodles of broccoli seed oil, Giovanni Leave-in. I use the words "caved in" because when I do leave-ins, there is no turning back. I end up wearing my hair contained for the rest of the week if I do. Wash day is tomorrow, then possibly another date with K on Monday as usual, if he has the day off, and hopefully we can cook lunch together at his place. ::sigh!:: ::LOVE::: By the way... <non-hair-related> we have agreed that we are soul mates. He says we're the same person. He had my spirit-name tattooed on his arm, long before he knew I existed, and likewise I had my spirit-name long before he and I had ever met. (Coincidence?) We decided a few weeks ago that we'd march forward with our relationship, and we will with great passion. ::another sigh!::

*Pokepoke*, hey Greek Lady ... I think I've got it figured out. The pictures I load onto Tinypic you can see, but Photobucket apparently not. Can you see me now?

[center]
October progress pictures, and a few extra
This one I cut off exactly where "everybody wants tailbone to be", but I understand it's not really tailbone until about mid-butt.


photos removed

Mmm, thanks for sharing the recipe!  Nice pics, and congrats on the relationship happenings!

Cynde

Cheesecake pictures and recipe sounds and looks great. Thanks 

Your hair pictures are enough for me to turn green with envy  You have wonderful hair!

And your relationship.....it really sounds like you 2 were meant for each other.....I bet you will discover more simularities.         Very happy for you

Thanks BB, Khrome, Juri, Moonchild, and NRogue

Something I wrote in the past hour. A lot of these overlap but I've been getting snippet ideas for this theory in the past couple days and they don't all go together. I think sane living involves a combination of most if not all eight points.  

How do people function in a world where the media and society continually churn out bad news, when sane living requires these people to genuinely believe that the world is good?

0. The media and society are not as influential as we make it out to be, and it cannot and does not control our daily lives.

1. Through tasks. We live sane ordinary lives because we keep ourselves occupied with everyday tasks such as work, household management, finances, hobbies and interests, and social connections. These tasks occupy most of our conscious thinking and so by the end of the day we have little time to think about the world.

2. Through selective memory. The only way we go on living normal sane lives is thanks to our complex memory mechanisms, that we have filters of sorts, and that it eventually compartmentalizes everything that is too shocking or tragic, and likewise sorts and compartmentalizes all of the most tragic past moments in our personal lives.

3. Through the process of grieving. First initial shock and denial, then a gradual evolving into acceptance, and finally release.

4. Through selfish rationalization or lack of knowledge. Yes there are bad things happening in the world but it has nothing to do with us on a personal level, so subconsciously we don't possess the ability to care until we've experienced negative outcomes firsthand.

5. Through skepticism or an objective analytical view towards the media and social influences, through human reason and understanding that the media only reports anything newsworthy, and that most "good news" are actually default positions of everyday life.

6. Through donation, charity work, social work, activism, missions, or other kinds of service. We accept the fact that bad things happen every day but at the same time we are doing something to combat the negative issues, to make a difference in the world, or at least feel good doing it.

7. Through the belief that the goodness in the world is not outweighed by disaster, crime, tragedy, and as long as long-term progress and good works are achieved, any negative outcomes are merely side effects of natural social evolution.

8. Through optimism, moral virtue, good will, or religious faith. By genuinely believing any of the following
"We are humans who possess reason and so long as we exercise reason, in the long run we can do no harm"
"Humans are guided by God's good will, and so long as God is with us there will be no permanent social harm"
"There is joy in little things"
"There is good in the human heart"
"Everything is an act of meditation"
"Everything is an act of human will and goodness"

::sigh::

so...

back to writing this research paper

What a freaky dream!  I'm looking forward to seeing your corset pics.  

I think your analysis on media hits the nail right on the head. I can think of examples in my life where I have felt at least one of those things in response to world events.  I think at most times, number 7 describes me most.

Cynde