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Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Well gosh darn it anyhow. I'm blushing aren't I?



One of my favorite blog-haunts is none other then Gem-ospohy by Gale Martin aka Gem. What a surprise it was to open my bookmarks, ckick on Gem's Blog (that's what I have it saved as because l'espirit de l'escalier didn't seem to want to cut and paste properly, and I haven't got around to renaming the link Gem-osophy) and find that Gem had tagged the Honk'n'Holl'r with the Thinking Blogger Award. Founded by ilker yoldas of 'the thinking blog', The Thinking Blogger Awards is a very simple meme for the purpose of bringing forward blogs that have made you think. I think ilker says it better:

"Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all - blogs that really get you thinking!" --ilker yoldas



Thank you Gem

(I'm still blushing)

But, this meme was started February 11, 2007, and is gaining headway fast. There are many blogs that I regularly visit and would love to tag with this, all my close blog friends have recieved this recognitition. Lately, there have been a few bloggers that have visited either of my blogs and commented, or otherwise got my attention.



The Thinking Blogger Awards (meme)



"If you choose to carry this meme forward, remember to tag only those bloggers who stimulate your cortex....or something like that. Please make sure you pass the rules to the blogs you are tagging.

----ilker yoldas of the thinking blog

The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award'

The Thinking Blogger Award

So here's my list of blogs that have made me think for one reason or another

Stop in and give them a look.


Jana's Jounal and Sketch Blog by Jana Bouc. I've just recently found Jana's blog and her art is wonderful and she shares her techiques and art experience with her readers.

Astronomical Drawings by Sebastian Lehner. This is one of the most unique blogs that I've encountered. Sebastian is a Medical student, but his hobby is astonomy. On his blog he draws the most detailed drawings from his telescope, and includes all relevant information about that drawing.

Angel Feathers Tickle Me (She goes by many names Magical Enchantress, Beloved Princess, and guardian of all that enter my garden of hopes and dreams, but I'll just call her angel). I first encountered Angel, by her leaving a comment on my art blog, but it was more than a comment, it was a poem. A peom that was her post for the day. Angel's blog combines art and inspirational writing. Everytime I visit, I leave with a smile.

Blubloodunlimited by Blublood. A well rounded blog that he calls his "manic journal of unlimited things". It includes one of my new favorite comment games he calls "I say...and you think...?" which is a very simple word association game that can lead to some hilarious results.

And Finally

WTIT: The Tape Radio Blog by Bud Weiser. Bud is one of the most creative and humorous bloggers that I have met in the blogoshpere. His wit is endless, and his comedic creativity seems to have no boundaries. After 40 years of writing comedy for WTIT, and DJ'ing, and hosting the blog and...and...

That's my list, and I hope you enjoy visiting these blogs as much as I do.


And, Grand baby is on it's fourth day holding out. I hope he/she's not holding out till he/she finds out what school he/she is going to be enrolled in.
Hey, Grandbaby you can come out now. Winter's over. Spring started a week ago. Yoo Hoo! Grandpa wants to play.
(Note: I know I goofed when I made this Peace Globe. Baby is due this March, but I made the Globe in 06 so it got dated funny)


Don't forget June 6, 2007 Mimi Lenox's Dona Nobis Pacem in the Blogoshpere. Get your Peace Globe

I have the first round of Read It 'n' Sketch It up at my art blog, and I will be back after work tonight to complete round Three of See It 'n' Write It (If Baby doesn't come that is)

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Sunday, March 25, 2007

Patiently, er, nervously waiting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Yep. It's going to be a typical Sirianni, at least a day late and a dollar short.
I really think that the baby's holding out till April Fools Day, if it were me I know I would ggg.
That reminds me, can anyone lend me a dollar? LOL.

Also, a big thank you and cyber hug to Mimi Lenox from Mimi Writes.
Mimi emailed me telling me that she has featured See It 'n' Write It in her Sunday Blog Chatter post. She also let me know that the art that I sent her arrived in tact. I was really worried that the Posties, or Customs, or Bin Ladin might get at them. Or that the rain, sleet and hail thing that Postal Workers vow they will deliver through would make the drawing one wet envelope of grey pulp.
Geese, why can't the real Scotty stand up and invent that transporter thingy, life would be so much easier. Well, and with a holodeck, of course!

I also want to send a big cyber hug and thank you to Gale Martin aka Gem.
Earlier this week, Gem tagged the Honk'n'Holl'r with the Thinking Blogger meme, and mentioned See It 'n' Write It and Read It 'n' Sketch It. I will complete the meme asap. Thank's Gale.

A great big cyber hu...er...hand shake..that's it...to Bud Weiser from Wtit: The tape radio Blog,
and a hug to my dear friend Maggie, who has finally started blogging (with a little prompting from me). They have both taken part in See It 'n' Write It from the begining, and with their participation, I'm sure it will be a fun success.

And finally, well for this post. A new venue has recently opened within our hotel. Our old night club has been renovated and turned into a dinner theatre. A local production company is now in their second play, and so far it is quite a success. The Night club is leased by this company, but all food and beverage, is run by the Hotel. The owner's of the production company have seen some of my artwork, and have now formally asked me to do all the artwork for thier next engagement (my first commisioned work). It is a Musical called "Leader of the Pack" and, to top it off, they want to officially become 'Paying' sponsors for both Foxxfyrre's Honk'n'Holl'r, and Foxxfyrre's Black and White Art Site. They will be sending me Jpegs of their Logos next week. The owner's of this production company have been formidable player's in Grande Prairie's art and theatre circles for many years and are willing to promote my efforts, and provide exposure of my work to Galleries at the College, and the City art gallery and other types of venues. Now, I'm really nervous, but I'll give it my all out.
Thanks for listening, it's been a weird, but really memorable week. And oh, wish me luck!
Frank


Monday, March 19, 2007

Dream weavers and 911

I started this blog, not as a personal journal or a place to rant and vent, but as a place to share some of the more weird and funny things that have happened to me as a Night Manager of a hotel. I wanted to share these as humoursly as I could, but at the same time, I didn't want just a list of this happened and that happend, and oh, this was funny. As a result, the Honk'n'Holl'r was started, and the Inn Space episodes of Dursten Shaw'tz were born. And I'm still hassled at work by co-workers asking when Episode 5 is going to be ready (And it's coming--honest). Well many unique experiences have happened to me after starting this blog, and it has been a wonderful journey so far. I've met many bloggers that I can now call friends, close friends, well as close as fibre optic cable will allow. Even after the journeys that this blog has taken me, I still didn't want to put up journal type personal posts. I wanted it just to be as entertaining as my limited writing skills would allow.
That was then.


All my working career within hotels, from bartending, to managing bar, to Food and Beverage Managing, to Night Managing the whole enchalada, family (the hoidy-toidy ones, of which I have a few, Doesn't everyone?) and close friends always gave me the "When are you going to do something real with your life," or "Are you still doing that, hotel thing." And it doesn't seem to matter how I explain that I love what I'm doing, they still turn their nose up at what I do. Sure, I'm not rich or famous, like some of my family, but I don't look down on anyone, or frequent a therapist.




But February 13, the night before Valentine's Day, something very unique happened to me at work and I just had to share this with everyone. I didn't feel that I could adapt it to place it in the Inn Space episodes either, because of the type of thing that happened. It needs its own post.


Just before going off shift, the Front Desk radioed for me to come to the desk right away. Upon my arrival the clerk told me that a little girl in room 215 just had surgery and is now bleeding very badly from the mouth. She informed me that it was the girls grandmother that phoned and she is in near hysterics. I called for our Security guard to come to the room with me to observe the problem. When I arrived at the room, I knocked and announced myself. A shaky, almost hyterical voice said to come in quickly. I immediately used my master keycard to let myself in. The grandmother was pacing the room frantically, not knowing what direction she should go, or what she would do next. She saw me and she simply said, "The Bathroom." I knocked and said who I was and let myself in to the bathroom. A little girl about nine or ten years old was haunched over the bathroom sink making the most gutteral of choking noises. I looked over her, and she was coughing up a large amount of blood. I immediatly motioned to the guard to get the ambulance and told him to meet them at the main entrance to escort them to the room. The little girl was still coughing up, but she was breathing, albeit rapidly, so I knew she was not choking on something and her airways were clear. She looked at me, and very hoarsly said, "Tonsils taken out," but her attempt to talk made her cough up some more. I told her everything was going to be okay, just hold on a little longer because help is on its way.

The phone rang in the room, and it was 911 asking for more information than the Front Desk could provide. The grandmother answered the phone, and very nervoulsy gave all the personal information while I attended and comforted the little girl. The grandmother asked me to the phone because 911 wanted to know more about the girls condition. I explained what the girls state was, how much blood she was couphing up, and that her toncilectomy may have ruptured. The 911 operator thanked me and said that a unit should be almost there.

The girl, all things considered, was very aware, but nervous and anxious. She was scared, scared of all things bad that a little girl could be scared of when seeing that much blood. The grandmother was anxious and more nervous than the girl was. She was scared, scared of all the things a loving grandmother could be scared of when thinking she's helpless in saving her little grand-daughter from she didn't know what. I asked the grandmother to come to the bathroom with me. I then talked to both, reassuring them that everything was going to be okay. The ambulance should not be very long. Anything I could think of I said to help put them both at ease.

While I was in the main area of the room talking to the ambulance, I noticed that the room had been filled with dream catchers. There was one over each bed, one over the large mirror, and one on the window ledge. I immediately noticed that they were not purchased dream catchers, but very well crafted hand-made ones. I took the chance that these were made by the grandmother, and asked her about them in an effort to help take her mind off her grand-daughter. The grandmother told me she does make them, and she makes them for all of her relatives and members of her Cree community. The little girl hoarsly got out, "Mine's the big pink one." The grandmother and I laughed, but the little girl smiled and another wave of coughing started. I kept the conversation going because it eased the grandmother, and the little girl seemed to settle a bit by listening to something pleasant.
About then the ambulance arrived, and within a few moments the little girl and grandmother were taken to the hospital.


About halfway through my shift the next evening (Valentine's Day), I got paged to the desk. When I arrived, the Desk Clerk (a different one from the previous evening) asked me if I was the one that went to room 215 for the little girl the night before. I told her I did attend the room. She then handed me a bag and said that the grandmother had left it for me. In the bag was this card:

And two hand-made well crafted Dream Catchers
And a box of chocolates

About two hours later, (after the bellman went home for the evening, and just before I went off shift) I got another call to take two pillows up to room 215. I got the pillows and immediately went to that room.
I knocked and the little girl answered the door. She looked up at me and smiled and I gave her the pillows. She reached for the pillows and turned to go back in to the room. She stopped and turned and looked up at me with her big brown eyes and throatily said "Thank you." She clutched at the pillows and tried to hide her smiling face in them because a wave of shy had now come over her. I smiled back and simply said, "You're Welcome."
She retuned into her room, and I could hear her say to her grandmother that, "It was him."

I how have the two Dream Catchers hanging at the entrances of my home, and I don't think I've had a bad dream since.

So, why do I do this job. Well it certainly isn't for the money, or for status, but every once in a while something out of the ordinary does happen that make it all seem very worthwhile. I will remember a little girls big brown eyes and toothy smile, and a nervous, but loving grandmother for a very long time.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Read It 'n' Sketch It


Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket


I have mentioned quite often on my art blog that an artist friend got me started in drawing. One of the methods he used was a creativity exercise where he would write four words at random on my sketch pad. The object of this was that I would merge three of the words into a drawing, and the fourth word would represent an action of the drawing, or the setting. The words did not have to be drawn literally, but should at least be recognizable in part as that item.

Here's an example
The key words were
bull dozer, pear, chessboard, and the action key word was eat
This was my result

Another example
The key words were
Rabbit ears, VCR, Cheese whiz, calculator

Well, as you can see the pictures do end up very quirky, but they are fun to do. They do force you to think 'outside the box'.
I'm really not expecting works of art by any means (did you see the above pictures?), but I would like to share what I got from doing these exercises, and that is simply 'FUN', with a capitol eph, ewe, ehn. Pulling in from creative juices that you just didn't know was there before is almost euphoric, and gives you the drive and energy to try more. If it wasn't for my artist friend, and the laughs we had over many coffees while doing these exercises that he'd throw at me, I don't think I would have driven myself to keep practicing, and drawing.


Some of you know my See It 'n' Write It meme challenge I have going on at my Honk'n'Holl'r blog. I based See It 'n' Write It on these creativity exercises by throwing four pictures at you and you are to write a short-short story, or peom, or anystyle of writing based on those pictures.
I have a round of See It 'n' Write It up, so I figured that why don't I use the keywords I used in that round to start a Read It 'n' Sketch It
challenge meme thingy sort of, based on those early creativity exercises.
These are the keyowords I used to generate the pictures for See It 'n' Write It

Megaphone, pills, chord, and the setting or action word was sunset

Your mission, if you choose to accept it,
is to not think hard, or long,
but rather, let your mind 'find' the keywords. Let your mind wander while only focusing on these things. Grab a pen, pencil, marker, crayon, and a piece of paper and let those wandering moments of clarity flow from your mind's eye to your paper.
Do not be critical of what you are drawing, just let it happen. These do not have to be literal representations of the items. They can be animated, distorted, even given arms and feet. Just let it happen.
You will be surprised where your mind will take you and what you will eventually draw, even if you don't think you have any art skills at all. I was one of those people that thought he could not draw at all, but with fun creativity exercises like this, I learned that if I just did it, it would happen.
If you do accept this mission, please scan and post the result. I will link to it, and with your permisson post the drawing on my art site.
I tag anybody, and anyone that wants to have a little fun doing something out of their ordinary routine. I'm going to play too.

And please, don't forget Mimi Lenox's Blogblast for peace. Get your peace globe here, and have it spinning for June 6th 2007

Saturday, March 17, 2007

St Patty's Day


I'm half Irish and obligated to do so.
(BUT IT DOESN'T TAKE MUCH PROMPTING)
If you aren't wearin green
Consider yourself
PINCHED

Thursday, March 15, 2007

See It 'n' Write It, Episode 3

So
What is it?
See It 'n' Write it is a simple writing promp, but instead of using a word for a promp, I use three images chosen at random as the prompts, and an additional image to inspire an action, setting or mood for the story.
The following images were chosen at random using google image search. I use a random word generator for input to google.
Write a short-short story that incorporates all three images while using the fourth as an action or setting or mood for the story.
When completed, just comment or email me a link to the story and I will add it as a post for
See It 'n' Write It



And a final action, mood, or setting

Have fun--that's all it's meant for!
Let me know when you post it and I'll link back to the story.

Don't forget about Mimi's Blogblast for Peace on June 6, 2007
Get your Peace Globes here, and have them signed and up for
Dona Nobis Pacem in the Blogoshpere

Monday, March 12, 2007

A funny thing happened on the way to the coliseum


My typical Sunday fun-fest is stopping at Dating profile of the day, copying the 10 Bachelor profiles, and then thinking long and hard to find ways to steer the bachelors off. Well, then I usually answer these lines in bachelor's character as if they would try one more time to get it right and get their gal. Men usually don't take NO for an answer, but what if all the women liked what they saw (or read). Would that turn them away? So I did some research on women's profiles. What if the girls were weirder then the men? Would that turn them away in fear, or would it get a virtual rose sent to them. But then the inevitable finally happened, my computer finally crapped out. I couldn't send in my answers, I couldn't get online, I fragged and defragged, and defrocked the damn thing till all I got was a blinking cursor. Mocking me. But the downtime let me get into character, and I swear it's a journey I will never take again. To try to be the weirder gal, than the guy's profiles, led me into an almost eerie place. Thus I thought that this round could be a little too risque to enter for the contest. Bachelors profiles and responses are in red, Women's are in yellow.






1. I am a research scientist in a medically related field, who doctors on the side.

I'm a cocktail waitress, and everyone calls me Nurse. I can check your pulse and give great mouth-to-mouth. Call me. No tip required.
But I have this friend that may need your assistance.

2. I do prefer darker woman,...(ex..African American, Spanish,..etc.) Having a darker tan at min is even acceptable. Ghostly skin makes me feel like I'm dating a vampire or someone that never left her fruit cellar.

T.G. for Fake'n'Bake and Cocoa Butter. It'll only take a week to unGoth, then we can go for a wine tasting--I hope you like reds? Cabernets are my favorite--Then we can go for a moonlit walk and it wont ruin my new complextion. Why is your jugular throbbing so fast?

Renfield! Duck, I've got this one.


3. My Dog Says I Need To Get Out More

I'd listen to your dog, he's got style. After all, four legs are smarter than two. My cat says she likes dogs so I feel a genuine connection and our pets wont get into a Venus and Mars thing.
Now I know the Truth about cats and dogs.


4. Hopless Romantic Looking For Same

I'm Roman, but not the jumpy type, and I am tic tac free cuz I'm a mentos girl.

I've heard about the Happy Roman, Gladiater
(Censored by me)

5. I Am Ready to Settle Down and Get Merried.

Finally, a man that's not afraid of being commited. I'm completely certifiable and waiting for that long walk in our long white coats.
The defense Rests

6. My life has been full of trials and trumps.

Me too. Every time I'm found guilty I play bridge on co-inmate socials. Looking for a good south.

I knew that b*tch would split us up, Bergie wait!

7. Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire

You noticed my perfume, Igniter de Arsonia. It's all the rage for us professionals. Totally untraceable. After dinner we'll HIT the night club.
As long as it's a country club to dance at. I hate those young rock clubs, floors are too sticky.

I think that a virtual rose was sent?

8. I'll be the Cuckoo in your Cocoa Puffs

Then I'll be the Mickey in your Life Cereal. I'll eat anything.
Who says you'll be here for breakfast?

9. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I can balance my checkbook.

OOOH a numbers man that may like to spoon. You're not forking with me are you?

On second thought, I'll be in the tool shed with the

10. Looking For a Real Woman Who Knows Her Place

I'm a Real Woman alright. And as for knowing my place.. I can see you..Don't try to hide. You're behind the couch.
You're stalking me aren't you? You're stalking me? I know you are. So, may the fleas from 1000 camels infest your armpits.
Well there we have it. 9 out of 10 men on the run from women that seemed to weird even for these fellows. Only one virtual rose sent to Plenty-o-Fish?
Although, obviously not scientific, pretty impressive results?
My head hurts!

(Sorry Mimi, I just had to give this a try.)

Don't forget, Mimi has called a Full Blogblast for Peace, June 6 2007. Stop at Mimi Writes to get a Peace Globe and sign and return it to Mimi. Have all your globes up for June 6, 2007 for Dona Nobis Pacem in the Blogsphere

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