And The Answer Is.....

First I'd like to thank all you Hooligans for making Wednesday a great day for me. I logged of early to take care of some business and when I came back found that you lot had run amok in the comments section. You made me laugh. Thank you.

So without further delay here's a list of the bloggers and their hotties.

Ray-  Zooey Deschanel  (Ray, you're woman got the most compliments hands down).
The Angry Lurker-  Pamela Sue Anderson (a blind Eskimo dwarf living in the Amazonian jungle was the only person who didn't know this one).
D4-  Halle Barry
Kris-  Jessica Biel
Bama Trav- Chrstina Sabia

Unfortunately the picture I had up on Wednesday was not Christina. This is Christina Scabbia.

Dez- Some of you noticed that it was not Beckhams face on that body. Dez cooked this one up himself. Dez photshopped a picture of his own face onto Bechamn's body. Dez doesn't even like Beckham and personally, I think Dez is perdier.
Pat- Kate Beckinsale
The Hubby- Kelly Cuoco (A few people got this right and they got it because Kelly is a blonde like me. The Hubby do like his women blonde).

Me- Bruce Willis (the blind dwarf's brother, Hernandez missed this one).
Whisk- Wolverine
Melanie- Daniel Craig
Jax- Tim Tebow
"L"- Michael Strahan

A lot of aggressive friendly debate took place in the comments on Wednesday. One heated debate involved the hotness of Hugh Jackman.  So to put that question to the test, I promised to post a pic of Hugh so we can all vote on his bedworthiness.

I got to pick the photo and I like my men sweaty, real and dirty like God intended a man to be, so this is what you're getting. I wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating crackers. (And if this isn't a picture of Hugh, I'm going to shoot myself).

An interesting bit of news was brought to light in the comments as well. It's now public knowledge that the Irish/Serbian Gossip Alliance has been granted a formal charter and is recognized by the UN and NATO as a global threat.  The only way to gain entrance into the Alliance is to be either Irish or Serbian, hence the name Irish/Serbian.

One last bit of business for today. My friend "L" asked me a question on her blog and under the Mistress/Madam of the Hooligans agreement, I have to answer it on my blog (I'm a member of many secret societies). Here's the question.

Would you rather look at the naked body of a man or a woman?  I have to be honest here and say a woman. Why you ask?  Because a woman's body is aesthetically more pleasing than a man's body. The luscious curves and shadows of a woman's body are beautiful when compared to the hard planes of a man's body.  Now that said, I wouldn't want to grab a woman by the ears and ride her like bicycle, I'd want a man for that.

Well folks the weekend is here and it's Spring. So I say do what nature is doing and have a good shag.  I know I will.

ATTENTION;  BLOGGER IS BEING A BITCH AND I CAN'T COMMENT ON MY OWN OR ANYONE ELSES PAGE. I'M GETTING AN  ERROR CODE. I'VE TRIED SIGNING OUT THEN IN AND SWITCHING SERVERS.  PLEASE UNDERSTAND IT'S BLOGGER THAT'S KEEPING ME FROM YOUR PAGES AND DON'T BE OFFENDED

O'Leary Tells Environazi's to Feck Off

Stewart Jeffbaggy of the Guardian recently accused Anne O'Leary, CEO of O'Leary Air of being "evil, by enticing otherwise stay-at-home British and other Europeans to jet around, befouling its' air with carbon emissions."

Word of the insult reached O'Leary while she was in her offices at Shenanigans Pub.  "It's time for a Press Conference!" O'Leary shouted.

A clearly drunken O'Leary stormed up to the podium, slammed down her bottle of gin and yelled at the assembled press. "I've been accused of being evil by the environazi's. For fucks sake, have any of you ever seen what one of these bastards looks like?"

"How can I take a couple of Cheech and Chong's like this seriously?"

"The idea that my Airline is destroying the environment is shite!" O'Leary glared at the press.

"Jesus Christ, my cattle cause more carbon emission than my entire fleet." 

"And besides that, I'm a humanitarian!"  O'Leary shouted, with no apparent segue.  "There hasn't been a world war in over 50 years because people are too busy flying O'Leary Air. Screw Bono, I should get a Nobel Peace Prize!"

The assembled press looked on in horror.

"My airline should also be given credit for the integration of Europe by bringing lots of different cultures to the beaches of Greece, Spain and Italy where they copulate in the interests of pan-European peace."

Following this statement, O'Leary passed out on the stage.

NOTE TO THE HOOLIGANS  I'm having serious trouble trying to integrate keeping this blog afloat while dealing with the realities of taking care of the Hubby and the house.  Right now I'm hoping to stick it out at a decent pace until my blogaversary. In order to do that, I'm going to have to play around with posting times a bit until I find what works for me.  

This is posting at about 1:30 a.m. my time and I can't stay up and wait for the morning crew to post. I've been nearly the first person on all of your pages for the last nine months and I can't do that everyday, so please bear with me.  I'm going to get some shut-eye and I'll be back before 10:00 a.m. EST. 

Naked and Raw

The title is not to be taken in the literal sense, but rather in the poetic sense. I'm using the abstract to convey the concrete.  The concrete being what it feels like to come down off a creative high. And I've been on one for months.

How to describe it? Not in normal, everyday language certainly. Those words cannot touch a feeling this bone deep. While engaged in the act of creating, the rest of the world blurs, bringing the creative project into sharp focus. You forget to eat, you forget to sleep, you forget to feel.  The last being most critical.

And then it stops. Abruptly. And you must eat, you must sleep, you must feel.  The return to the world of feelings is painful. So you just hang there, in the void, raw and naked desperate for the next high. And this is the time when verse comes to me. When I'm most exposed and unable to hide myself from myself.

She Said

"Hello is harder than goodbye"

he said

too late.

But what is there

between hello/goodbye?

A nod, a glance,

perhaps

a spoken word

too few 

to string the subtlety of meaning.

"You've come too late"

she said.

"I was just leaving."

                                                O'Leary, Anne  03-24-2012   

It's Getting Better All The Time

Here we are in the new time slot. Let's get this show on the road shall we?

As you know I've finished painting my second miniature. This one's from Dark Sword Miniature's and it's of much higher quality and therefor more of a pleasure to paint.  I think this one turned out better than the first one.

The Dark Templar is posting a series of Painting Tutorials for Newbies (that would be me) and Kris has been teaching me all along the way and between the two of them, I think I've managed to get a few things right this time.  I think the tunic and the leggings turned out pretty well. There is more subtle shading present I used multiple thinner layers working from dark to light.

I took this picture a few minutes before posting and it's raining to beat all hell outside and it's dark inside, so the picture isn't as good as it should be. There are improvements in the face. I'll try to retake this shot over the weekend and post a close-up with my next blog.

There are still obvious problems with the cape. It's not subtle enough, but it's less sloppy than the first one, so it has improved.

Feel free to point out anything you think needs improving.

Now, because I've had requests, here are some flowers from my garden.

Just Breathe

And this tree, well this is where I'm going to spend tomorrow and with a bottle or two of Smirnoff's. Can anybody spot the song references in this blog?  No, that's because you're too young.

I haven't slept since Wednesday, so that's what I'm going to do right now. I'll be in later.

Time is short people, so have fun while you can.  Get out there and have a great weekend. I know I will.

The Times They Are A' Changing

Sound familiar? Of course it does, it's the title of a song by Bob Dylan (see you knew that, you just didn't know you knew that).  Oh, you're wondering what I'm on about?

I'm talking about the posting time for my blog. Due to a conflict of interest, my blog will post at 12:00 p.m. EST.  I checked the pulse on my blog yesterday and it seemed pretty damn healthy to me, so I think it can withstand this change of schedule with a minimum amount of collateral damage.

I'm posting my next mini at 12:00 p.m. Friday and I hope to see you there. If not, I'll see you on the darkside of the moon (Pink Floyd reference).

THIS IS NOT POST. Comments have been disabled.

Anne, How'd You Get To Be So Bawdy?

Of the thousands of questions I get asked daily, the most common one is "Anne, how'd you get to be so bawdy?"  I would answer "I didn't just wake up like this one day. It took years of hard living to become this feckin' bawdy."  And I'm glad I did. Why without boobies, booze and cursing this blog would be nothing."

It started innocently enough. I was sitting in my room listening to my first Led Zeppelin album when I heard the roar come off those drums. And I thought to myself, "One day I'm going to be John Bonham."

I immediately began harassing my gran about buying me a drum kit.  So desperate I was to be like John Bonham that I even promised to stop playing truant from school if she'd buy me one.  Well, I practiced by myself and learned to play by listening to the unholy trifecta of Bonham, Moon and Baker.

Then it was time to find a bunch of guys who would let a girl be in a band with them.

And that's when the pub-crawling began. I went from pub to pub, drinking beer, playing darts and cussing until I found a couple of guys who were willing to let me hang out with them and play.

Being in a band meant band practice and band practice meant drinking vast quantities of alcohol, cussing and oftentimes passing out drunk on the floor and waking up in a puddle of vomit (hopefully your own).

And when you weren't playing you'd go out to the pub. I had to watch these guys behave like animals. They didn't censor themselves around me, they just treated me like one of the guys. I became accustomed to hearing phrases such as "She's a face on her like a bulldog whose just licked piss off a nettle". "Jaysus, you wouldn't ride her into battle" or "If I'd a bag of bruised willies I wouldn't give her one."

So you see, it's just normal for me to be this way.  

And speaking of bawdy, WorkingDan over at Shameful Promotions did a post with me as a character using MSPaint.  It appears as if I'm so bawdy that I've earned a place on the Wall of Shame.  And if you go read it "No, those boobies are not really mine. Mine are perkier."

Many Thanks To Wargamer's

I want to say thank you to all the gamer's who stopped by my page on Friday.

You guy's made me feel welcome as part of your community and I appreciate all the advice you gave me on my first miniature.  

I will be unavailable today, so comments are optional. If you feel like leaving a comment, you may do so.  

Comments for this post are mediated.

THANK YOU GUYS!!!!

Missing Home On St. Patrick's Day

On Wednesday I gave myself over to the pain of longing for home and began the process of shutting myself away from the world around me. The world around me was about to become populated by people drinking green beer and celebrating "being Irish" with a happiness that I cannot share because I am not one of them. I am foreign, I am Irish.  Now isn't that ironic?

By Friday afternoon I was locked away in my room crying and the Hubby knew it was time to act.  He called home and got one of my sisters to ring me up.  The sister that I'm closest to, the one who is most like me, the one I call Leilon. So to celebrate my holiday, I'm going to share a bit about myself and my sister Leilon (it's a nickname, don't ask).

No, this isn't her, but it is her holding up the puppet. She bought this puppet just to piss me off and she puts it on her hand when I go home and talks to me with it. She claims it's payback for all the shite I did to her when we were little.  So what did I do to her?  Here's one story.

I would wake her up at about 3:00 a.m. and tell her it was time to go to school. She'd stumble out of bed, eye's shut tight against the lamplight and stagger into the bathroom and into the shower.  Standing outside the door, I'd wait for her to come out then follow her back to her bedroom where I'd go to the window, open the curtains and show her the night sky. Then she'd come at me, fists flying while I laughed my fool head off at her.

So she called me, I cried, we remembered our shared past and I ended up laughing.  I'll miss my sisters today while they make merry with one another, and I will keep company with my memories.

My First Mini

Normally no matter what is going on in my life, I'm positive and happy and try to make other people feel happy. I'm not up to that today.  Today I'm posting pictures of my first miniature and I'm not at all satisfied with how she turned out. Actually, I'm feeling rather ill right now, and may upchuck at any moment.

I promised that no matter how this turned out, I would be brave and post it. So here she is.

When I look at this all I see are mistakes. One of the biggest mistakes I see is that there is too much difference between the light and the shaded areas. This should be more subtle and gradual and I failed here.

And from the rear, the same mistakes are present, but more obvious. With the hair, I made the opposite mistake. There isn't enough definition present and the details don't show up.  And I didn't put her on a base because I'm not happy with the figure and don't see the need to spend the money on it.

Here she is from the side. The only thing I really like is how her boots turned out.

And for those of you who don't paint miniatures or follow pages that do, this will give you some idea of how small she is.

Putting all that negativity aside, I had fun doing this and am going to keep painting until I get good at it. I've got some fun figures from Dark Sword and am excited about painting them. My favorites are the frogs and I just ordered a mouse warrior who is wearing a really gnarly eye-patch.

I follow a lot of gaming pages and have learned a lot from all of them, and today I'd like to thank Kris from Wargames and Railroads for all the help he's given me.  If you gamer's haven't been over to visit Kris yet you should do so.  He teaches painting professionally and he won the Gold Medal in Genghis Con XXXI.  A picture of his winning miniature is posted on the right sidebar of his page.

I would like constructive criticism from the gamer's out there. And don't mollycoddle me, because if you don't correct me, I'll never learn and I intend to get better at this.  I will reply to all comments today, just give me time as I have some things to do and will be on and off blogger all day.

I've already picked out the next figure I'm going to paint.

She's from Dark Sword miniature and I haven't done anything with her yet. She still doesn't have her right hand on yet!!  If anyone has any tips on how to put that little piece on without screwing it up let me know.

Everyone have a great weekend. The weather is to be good here and I'm going to get out and enjoy it.

Signs Of Life

After months of winter with the wind, cold pounding to get in, an early Spring arrives and brings Signs of Life from a ground once bereft.

I shot these daffodils at dusk in my back yard and turned the flash on. They look moonkissed don't they? Of course they do.

And isn't this crocus from my front yard gorgeous. Look at that color. Doesn't that make you want to smile? Of course it does.

And here's the Pussy Willow that sits in my side yard, it's catkins bursting forth to herald the coming of Spring.  Now don't you feel like making dirty jokes?  Of course you do.

Here's some sedum that grows as ground cover beneath my oldest tree. They look like perfect miniature roses don't they?  Of course they do.

Honeysuckle, just starting to open up in response to the sun's gentle caress.  Now if this doesn't make you think about shagging, you might want to take your pulse, because you're dead.

I've been given an award by fellow blogger Bersercules and although rumor had it that he'd been eaten by a Sasquatch in the wilds of Canada, he must be alive, because he's back with an episode of Bibleman.

It's the Kreativ Blogger award and to show you just how creative I am, I'm not going to play by the rules that go with this award.  Instead of telling you ten random things about myself, I'm going to tell you one vital truth. It's the meaning of my life.

My Daughter

A single point

in time 

paused,

on the brink

of pain.

The moment

stretches 

the surgeons 

eyes wide

under lights that scathe.

In his hands

he held aloft,

my daughter

arched back

screaming life,

into the world

she came.

And in my ear

a voice

whispers

"This is why you came."

                                                     O'Leary, Anne 03-13-12.

All photographs have my signature embedded and are source located directly to my camera. Copy, crop, paste and I'll slaughter you in a Spring fertility ritual and make another mini-me.

A Change in Schedules

Spring is almost here and when the weather gets warm, I get itchy feet and prefer being out of doors. I've said before that I intend to cut back on my blogging time and have weaned myself down to Monday's, Wednesday's and Fridays.

I'm an avid gardener with five flower gardens and it's about time to start making my world a pretty place, so  I'll be cutting back to blogging on Wednesdays and Fridays or sometimes on Monday and Wednesday I will be posting at the same time of day that I always have.  

My blogs also tend to take a long time for me to create. My last blog took me 10 days to finish and being as anal retentive as I am, I can't see myself spending less time creating something that is going to have my name on it.

I will still stop in and comment on days when I don't blog, but it will be later in the day than normal.  And I'll still run amok on blogger with you hooligans on and off throughout the day and enjoy the banter.

Have a good Sunday. I've got Mass and a mini to paint. See you all later.

The Knights Of The Not So Round Table

Welcome back to Whimsy World and let's pick up where we left off.  The Evil Queen Margie occupies the throne, a throne that by all rights should belong to me, because I'm an O'Leary and she's a feckin' Kiernan.  I've been temporarily transformed into a fairy by a wizard until the usurper Queen can be defeated.

I'm being protected by my two loyal knights Sir Francis The Brave (aka The Angry Lurker) and Sir Ray The Bold (Don't Throw A One).

Sir Francis The Brave has vowed to never rest until he defeats Evil Queen Margie and  has deflowered every maiden in the land.

Sir Ray The Bold has vowed to die in defense of the rightful Queen of Whimsy World and to knock Sir Francis The Brave on his arse in a joust.  

And after a hard day in the saddle where do these two knights go to get their groove on?

They head straight for "The Humping Pony" where the ale is cheap and the women are even cheaper.

And this is Pammy Sue the tavern wench. Rumor has it that Sir Ray The Bold rescued Pammy Sue from a gang of orcs when she was just a maiden. Sir Ray was wounded in the battle and asked Sir Francis to accompany Pammy Sue back into the village and by the time they got there, she was a maiden no more.  She now works at "The Humping Pony" and is a favorite of both knights.

The saga will continue after I complete work on my two warrior elves, who better not reveal their identity in the comments section because I want it to be a surprise. I'll tell you this much, one is a female and the other a male. 

And tonight I'm going to begin painting this mini.

And I'm going to name her "The Spawn" after my daughter.  I'm going to take photgraphs after each step in the process and post them with the finished piece.  I'd appreciate it if you gamers can point out my mistakes so that I can improve my work. 

The weekend is almost upon us, so let's all trip the light fantastic and make it a good one.