::sigh::

See this image?

There's a reason why I put a watermark on it here. It's mine. I made it. Or at least manipulated/recreated it.

Let me show you...

I took these three pictures:



and carefully resized them and layered them on top of one another and colorized where necessary.



Then I copied the left side of his face, mirrored it, and then painstakingly matched it and blended it together to make it look like a whole face.



But see? This - as an actual original photo - does not exist. I created it. I made it to use in this wallpaper:



I did not spend hours on it just so someone could crop it out of the wallpaper and make it into an icon or use it on their website or make Incredimail stationary out of it - all without asking me first. The only other person who has permission to use this image is Randall, since the wallpaper was originally made for him. I used that picture because he told me it was a favorite of his.

So... why does it keep popping up all over the place? And don't tell me I should be flattered that so many people like it or something like that. I know I should probably just let it go, but for whatever reason, this particular image is special to me. And I hate seeing it show up everywhere used in ways I never intended it to be used for. So... please stop. Okay? All three of the original source images above are link to places where you can download the full size versions - use one of those instead... please? Thank you - for reading this, if nothing else.

::sigh:: Part 2

I am so frikkin' far behind on email and my f-list that I'm just going to let some of the older stuff go... can't catch up. So - if you sent me b-day wishes last week and I didn't thank you personally, please forgive me. If you emailed me personally or are on my f-list and posted here, then I did see it, and I thank you so much for thinking of me.

armandlegg - I did get your package. Thank you so much!! Funny part is I had actually forgotten completely that you asked me about the item you ended up sending me, so it was a total surprise when I opened it! Haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but will soon, I'm sure.

And you gotta love the digital age. I got a grand total of 3 paper birthday cards, and 2 of them were from armandlegg. The other was from my parents. Oh wait - I lied - I did get one from my cellular provider which included an offer for 30 birthday minutes if I buy a 100 minute airtime card before the end of the month. Whoo-hoo! Not. I just don't use my cell phone that much, and it's not much of a gift when you have to buy something to be able to get it, you know? Blah. But I got lots of wonderful online birthday wishes, and those definitely count too, so thanks everyone.

I kinda feel like I'm being pulled in a dozen different directions at once right now, and while it's not actually that bad, it gets a little overwhelming sometimes. I desperately need to get organized.

To thanks_thankyou - I wish there was more I could do to help, but I'm not really in the best place myself right now. But please still email me anytime, okay?

Seems like there was more I wanted to say... but for the life of me I can't think of what it was.