The Great LJ Reboot of 2013.

[kv0925]

Okay, gang. I find myself with both unfettered access to LJ (which has not always been the case) and enough time to enjoy that access. So I'd like to get a little more active here, in terms of posts and commenting and, you know, actually getting to know you fine people a bit more. Some of you I've really connected with over the years, and some that I've added in the past year or so are still relative strangers to me. So I'm hoping to make more of a point of commenting when I have something to say, and I hope you'll feel free to do the same. I suppose it would help if I posted more often and more interesting things myself, eh? Well, no promises on the content, but I will try to at least up the frequency. :) And you know, if at any time you feel we just aren't connecting, I certainly have no hard feelings if you ditch me and leave me to fend for myself in this cold, cruel, dark world. No hard feelings at all. I'll understand. sniff.

Anyway, I thought it might be a good idea to do a bit of an introductory post, for those of you who might see me pop up on your flist and wonder who I am. That too is understandable. And even as a refresher for those of you who have been around for a while (and thanks for that!).


So I'm cp here on LJ, and as you might guess, to have such a short user name I've been on LJ for many a moon. Since 2000, as a matter of fact, which is impressive to me because how many websites can you really say you've been a part of for over a decade? For me it's LJ and eBay, and maybe Hotmail (though I almost never use that address anymore). Most of my entries are wide open, so theoretically you could take the time to read and recap my past 13 years of life here! But that would be boring, so don't do that.

In real life I'm Kelly, and I'm a 38-year-old guy. Born and raised in central Florida, though I've also lived briefly in middle Tennessee and central Texas. I guess I am drawn to the middle bits of states? Tennessee in 2001 is where and when I met my lovely wife Heather (who is originally from Virginia Beach, so we take a trip to visit her folks there most every year). We eloped with a Texas Justice of the Peace (I just think that's cool) in 2002. Our firstborn is Hermione, born in 2004, so she just turned 9. Then came Halcyon (who we call Hallie) in 2007 and Amaryllis (Amy for short) in 2011. We also have a dog, 4 cats, a bunch of fish, a guinea pig, and a lovely (if I do say so myself) butterfly garden full of wee beasties.

So that's the cast of characters here. I work as a manager for the local cable company (every bit as exciting as it sounds, believe me), though my role these days is actually in support of the parts of my company outside of Florida, so I've started taking occasional trips to those cities. Which is great for me because I do enjoy traveling, as long as I get some time for sightseeing and photo-taking!

My main hobbies are photography (which is actually a bit more than a hobby, it's also a part-time generator of additional income) and music (I play guitar and used to consider myself a songwriter, but it's been a long time since I actually wrote a whole song!). I very much enjoy the outdoors, so hiking and birding and gardening are frequent indulgences as well. I dig movies and creative arts in general, and I read a good deal (a mix of fiction and non-fiction, though lately mostly fiction). Politically I'm a tree-hugging hippie liberal progressive pacifist, even though I've always had a fascination for all things military (and even envisioned myself joining the military when I was younger). I love history, especially the quirky coincidences and accidents and stuff. I was raised non-practicing Christian, essentially, but now consider myself strongly agnostic. I tend to like to believe in some cosmic force greater than all of us puny humans and running under and through everything, but I certainly don't think it's in the form of an old guy in the sky watching us all masturbate. :)

Speaking of photography, I created (and presently neglect) a community here on LJ dedicated to sharing not just photos, but how they were created from a technical and artistic perspective. The idea is to share knowledge and tips to improve our photographic skills. It's not a busy place yet, but feel free to check it out and join if you like: shutterbuggery

Um.. I think that's enough to get the general idea. Have some pics! Each one links back to my Flickr stream, to which I add quite often--feel free to add me there too, if you're a Flickrite!


Heather and I, on our trip to Texas last fall. I am the designated photographer of the family, so photos of me are pretty rare. I do not have a problem with this, since all my girls are far easier on the eyes than am I. :)


I used to sport the moustache/goatee--it made my face look a bit more full and older, but now I am fuller and older on my own. But I dunno, I get tempted to grow it back. What do you think?


Hermione.


Hallie.


Amy.


And the rare photo of all 3 girls, looking at the camera and smiling!

Any questions? :)

Comments

[liquidmistletoe.livejournal.com]

As always, your girls are so beautiful! I absolutely love that last shot.

What kind of dog do you have? Dogs <3

LOL: but I certainly don't think it's in the form of an old guy in the sky watching us all masturbate. :)
Whenever people talk about the death of loved ones and "they are watching down from heaven," my immediate thought is "God, I hope not"

[cp.livejournal.com]

Thanks! They are pretty adorable, if I do say so myself. And thanks, too, for being a good LJ friend. I've very much enjoyed watching your photography skills expand, and knowing I've added a little to your knowledge here and there. :)

I don't take many photos of our animals, I should rectify that! The dog is a black lab mix named Scout:

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/rain0975/6144949125/)

I tend to call her a dumb dog, but she's really not dumb at all, she's pretty smart. Say one of her trigger words (walk, outside, mail) and she comes running! But she's a complete wimp. She's good about letting us know if there's someone at the door or in the yard, and she SOUNDS scary when she barks, but if she's outside she'll run away from everything except squirrels. :)

And yes, I don't get how people don't see the whole "God is watching you ALL THE TIME" thing as being creepy as hell. So to speak. :)

[liquidmistletoe.livejournal.com]

Daw, cute dog! labs are some of the BEST dogs ever - friendly, goofy, and just the right balance between brilliant and dumb-as-a-rock.

You most certainly have helped me expand my photography in the last year! I still use my little homemade lightbox :) Here's to more years of friendship and learning!

And Congrats on winning lj-photophile!! We were bound to get one eventually, eh?! Let me know if you ever get your lj tokens... mine never did come through. I contacted the mod, not that it was that big of a deal, but I was really curious about what happened. He said he contacted LJ to ask for the tokens to give out (I guess lj-p is a Livejournal sponsored community?) and that they were behind but he hoped to get them soon and would go back and give all the winners their tokens... two months later, no tokens... not that I really know what to do with them or anything...

[cp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we set out wanting a golden retriever, but we wanted to adopt from the shelter and kept an eye out for a few weeks, but no goldens were around. In fact, the vast majority of dogs we saw there over the few weeks we were looking were pit bulls and pit mixes. I know they're the evil dog of the moment, but we just weren't about to take the chance with small kids. So when a litter of labs showed up, we jumped at it. Scout's been really sweet with the girls, not aggressive at all and quite tolerant of having her tail and ears yanked. :) So she was a good choice.

Yay about Photophile indeed! I kept waiting for them to announce the winner, seemed like the poll was up for way more than a week. It's a nice feeling, even if it's not a shot I expected to do well at all, especially given some of the other shots in the poll! It'll be nice if the tokens show up, but no big deal if not, I guess. I hardly ever think to use a different user pic than my default, and I don't even have a full 15 uploaded, so I don't really need more. The custom user icon/head thingie might be cool, though. :)

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

I know you shouldn't judge people by how they look but I've noticed that people with facial hair tend to have more personality than those who don't...male-wise, but then, that could be that those with facial hair have a more of a relaxed attitude towards life in general and don't care what others think.

You seem more like a facial hair person, lol.

I'm not sure if you saw but I now have confirmation that Lego IS doing a Marvel game for the fall.

[cp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, personally I like my face better with the fuzzies, maybe because it hides my face a bit (and I've never really liked my face). But I shaved it off for my wife a year or two ago. She'd never seen me without the facial hair except for old photos, for one thing, and wanted to. I think--no, I know--she prefers me without it. Maybe I should do what Stephen King does--every year at a certain time he lets it grow (probably around fall/winter, since he lives in Maine), and then come another time of year he shaves it all off. Good compromise. :)

I did see that, and I am thrilled! My girls and I love all the LEGO games for the Wii, and that should be a really good one. I just wish they would add another player or two! Only two of us can play at any one time!

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

CONGRATS!!!!

I knew you'd win!

Yeah, I hate that about Lego and Halo games both. We usually end up having to take turns. Did you see my article on Disney Infinity?

[cp.livejournal.com]

Whoo-hoo, thanks! Seemed like they took forever to announce it, but last I checked I was running away with it. Go me! :) Now I can't win again for what, 2 months? ;)

I just now got to watch the video.. that does look pretty awesome! I think we'll definitely be interested in that one!

[meganleewelch.livejournal.com]

Your family is beautiful! And I say yes to the goatee.

[cp.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And where have you been? I haven't seen many posts from you lately! Ah, but I see you've caught up with a vengeance, so I will get the scoop this morning.

I agree about the goatee. But I know my wife prefers me clean-shaven. I'll have to run it by her. ;)

[ingenious76.livejournal.com]

You have a gorgeous family.

[cp.livejournal.com]

Thanks very much! I'm pretty happy with them. :)

[bender-927.livejournal.com]

Your daughters are super adorable and I love their names. How exactly do you pronounce Halcyon? Whatever the case may be, I think it's awesome.

Definitely prefer you with the goatee. I'm glad you asked so I don't have to say anything unsolicited. lol

I can only hope my intro posts sound half as interesting as yours someday. lol. Thanks for having me on board. You seem like a decent guy, so I hope you can pardon all my nonsense. My youth is my excuse. :)

[cp.livejournal.com]

Thank you sir! It's HAL-see-un, but we never call her that. We're apparently big fans of naming our kids things that we then don't actually call them (except for Hermione, but that usually comes out as Miney). Besides, Halcyon means calm and tranquil, and she's rarely that. :)

And the moustache/goatee seem to be preferred by everyone except my wife and kids. And since they're the ones who have to see me the most (and kiss me to boot), so far I'm letting them win. Maybe someday. :)

Like I said, it's pretty boring here in my LJ since my life has settled into a rather peaceful groove. It'll be nice to read about some youthful adventures! But hopefully I'll have enough of interest to share too and earn my keep. :)

[bender-927.livejournal.com]

LOL. Minus the confusion surrounding my breasts and vagina, I rather like being a "sir." Let's keep that as our inside joke.

That name is so interesting. Definitely not one I'm used to. But I always think of it as "Hallycon" anyway. :P

Your coolness and my madness should work well together. I think I'll enjoy having you around regardless.

[cp.livejournal.com]

Sorry about that! As you might imagine, I read your latest entry and was a bit like, OOOPS. I'm not even sure why I got the impression that you were a guy, maybe because Sasha can go both ways and Bender is male (as robots go, anyway)? My actual first name is Kelly, so I'm often assumed to be a girl by people who haven't met me, if it's any consolation. :) Anyway, I stand corrected!

[bender-927.livejournal.com]

lol! It's all good. I was very amused by it. We really should keep that joke alive.

I did notice your name's Kelly and assume the story behind that is typical: was teased, too old to care now. Why'd your parents name you that?

[cp.livejournal.com]

Okay, but you'll have to call me 'girlfriend' or something to even it out. ;)

You know, I never really got the story on why they picked it, though I'm old and up until the 70s Kelly was still predominantly a boy's name. As I like to point out, it comes from the Irish for 'warrior', so yeah, it's MANLY, dammit. :) So basically it's a boy's name taken over by girls because girls get all the cool stuff. ;)

[cp.livejournal.com]

Thanks, and welcome to you as well!

Don't worry too much, it can happen relatively quickly! I met my wife in 2001, so I was 26 or so. We got married in 2002, and had our first daughter in 2004 when I was 29. So even if you're a few years behind that pace, you could be a tied-down Daddy like me by the time you're 35, easy. ;) My wife always wanted girls--she loves to sew and girl clothes are apparently a lot more fun to make. I sorta wanted a boy somewhere along the way, but I don't mind too much that we didn't end up having any (and I'm pretty sure we're done at this point). I'm not a particularly macho guy, so maybe I wouldn't have been able to relate to a boy like I should!

[cp.livejournal.com]

Ha, good point! :) I think I've done pretty well so far--we have a Wii and the girls like to play that, mostly the LEGO games. They have PCs as well, on those they like Zoo Tycoon and some mystery/adventure stuff. I need to focus on getting them into the stuff we grew up on, though! Maybe some classic SMB is in order.

[cp.livejournal.com]

I keep my old Dreamcast around because it's such a good machine for NES and SMS emulation. But I don't crank it up much, I definitely should. I bet they'd really enjoy some of that stuff. I'd really like to get them into RPG and adventure stuff, since I loved that as a kid. Zelda certainly comes to mind.. :)

I never really tried Kirby myself! Good suggestion, though, I'll make sure I have that one and get them to give it a try.