It is certainly one of the best decisions I've made in life!
I was so unhappy with glasses, and it was awesome to open my eyes in the morning and see the world properly!


Yes and it seems the ones that have money ruin their bodies and faces with plastic surgery.
I recently saw photos of Catherine Zeta Jones and my jaw dropped, not in admiration this time.
Dunno what the hell she's done to herself, but it isn't good.
I never understand why people do that to themselves.

Another example is Jennifer Grey from Dirty Dancing. Her daughter didn't even recognise her mum when she watched the movie!
She's like a completely different woman. Crying shame as she used to be lovely.

Makes you wonder what such women think when they see themselves in the mirror in the morning...

I've had my eyes lasered when I was 35. Dunno if you'd consider that cosmetic, but it did make me feel much better!
I've never liked glasses and I certainly don't feel "me" with 'em. Had contacts for 18 years but my eyes got too dry so I had to go back to glasses.

Surgery... I would consider a few things if I had the money for it.
Or one that I could think of right now: my eyes, have my eyelids done.
It's not too bad, but having them done gives you an instant fresher look.

Whatever I'd consider, it would have to look natural.
Meaning I'd never have much done, if I'd have anything done at all.

Thank you, Julie! :)

In the meantime I got a lot more work done. Still not finished though.

The castles and landscape are much lighter, but if I get that photographed the way it is the arch washes out.
The weirdest thing.

But since I want to show the arch, I tried to get that as close to how it is in real life. Also not easy. When it looks great on my phone it is bland on my monitor.

In any case, this is what I've done so far:

Great link, thanks!
I couldn't find it through regular channels either, also found some to me unknown site with the episodes on it, but this one is easier :)

And yes, it was certainly good! Lots of stuff that I had never heard nor seen before.

At least we now know you don't have the makings to be a coach.

Name calling is totally pointless if you'd know how habits work, and how to change them.

You're basically going up against the subconscious which is like a locomotive that goes 100km per hour without a driver.
So you cannot reason, bargain, convince etc. the subconscious as there's no one there to reason with. Just a locomotive (= learnt program, habit) that does what it's done for decades: drive 100km per hour, whether it leads to something or not.

That's what you're up against when you try to quit smoking.
So EVERYONE who even tries to quit is a hotdanged hero!!
You try and step in front of that locomotive.
It takes serious baws!
People deserve a medal for going there, even if they don't succeed (in one go).

Please refrain from name-calling. It's rude, unpleasant, and not helpful at all.

This helps!
I too got an adhesive rash from the patches they normally give, these are cheaper.
Then I got a different brand which doesn't cause me trouble. These are more expensive.
And because the adhesive is less intrusive you cannot put them back on if you want to remove it.

In any case, I didn't smoke for most of 2023, then began again in Feb 2024.

Now going for it again.
Today was my first day. Had a real tough time with it though.

Fingers crossed!

An afternoon of painting, got this now.
NOT finished!

When this part is done and dry I will make minor corrections on the city/castle as the horizon line wasn't correct. That always annoyed me.
I'm going get that sorted as well before I call it a finished painting.

Would've been easier & more logical to begin with that, but yeah... I couldn't wait to get going with this part, hihi.

The arch part itself is also NOT finished!!

Not entirely correct.
You got tons of soul mates and not all of these are meant to be romantic.
Most of your family, friends, and often even colleagues are soul mates!!
And romantic partners past & present as well.
Soul mates aren't necessarily meant to stay in your life either.

As for the romantic soul mates... you have way more than 1. Would be quite the disaster if you only had the 1 as then you'd never be able to find new love if things go awry.
And they aren't always meant to stay in your life forever either.
Oftentimes you come together to learn and grow and when that's done you go your separate ways.
If people could accept & understand that concept break-ups wouldn't be as difficult as they often are.

To be complete there are:
Soul mates
Twin Souls
Twin Flames
Twin Ray

The only one that you have 1 of is the Twin Ray.
And so far only 0,0000000000000000000000000001% of people, or less, will be ready on their evolutionary path for their Twin Ray.
You can almost say; it doesn't happen.

As it is, getting together with a Twin Flame is still extremely rare.
And some 20 years ago getting together with your Twin Flame didn't occur. Back then the Twin Soul connection was the highest.

Thank you so much, Julie!
Does me good to hear that

I've seen it too, although not certain now if I watched the last episode.
I loved it as well!
The way things are explained & shown, really good and very relaxed & easy to understand :)

Thank you Jim!
Wishing you all a lot of fun and a good time with the game!

Although I like dancing I'm going for singing!!
Considering that I have been singing on stage a few times and I just really love singing!!

Thank you so much!! Both AngelBlue & StrandedSnowMonkey :)

OT --- I began a new 'revision' of a painting, hihi.
I had been thinking about that as I was finishing up the Phoenix. It's another one that I had finished before but was never happy with.
Now I want to get it right!

I began the painting in 2012, then later on in 2015 did a 1st attempt to finish it, and failed.
I just wasn't feeling it and it ended up in storage like this:


Then in 2023 I'd started playing with a new style of painting, tried it with this canvas, but didn't quite work out the way I had hoped since it's oil painting.
It ended up like this, finihed in a way but me still not liking it.




Then I had an idea a couple of days ago. So this afternoon I sanded parts of it till it was quite smooth, this evening gesso-ed it.
It looks a bit weird with the white horizontal above the city/castle but I decided I wanted to get rid of that bridge and all the waterfalls to the left.

Now I got this, tomorrow I can start with paint (it's too late now for me, half past 9).
I think this is the biggest change I've ever done on a painting, hihi.
But... this time I know how I want it to look, so I'm certain I'm going to end up with a painting that makes me happy! :D


The white is Gesso (primer). So this is NOT a finished painting!!!

I thought this was about 2 different cities in the US but I'm guesstimating it's sports.

Nevertheless, can anyone enlighten me and tell me wat K.C. stands for?

Thanks, Julie :D

Happy Chinese New Year to you all!

This is from Clara, Acu Pro Academy:

As we step into the Year of the Wood Snake , it’s a powerful time for reflection, transformation, and creativity.

This year’s Yin Wood energy encourages adaptability, wisdom, and fluidity.

No doubt there's much more to read & tell about this year's energy & influence.

I myself am also a Wood according to Chinese 5 elements, but not a Snake.

I finished my Phoenix painting last night!
Had to do some minor details and paint in the missing 4th talon.
I hadn't even noticed that until 2 days back they were missing. Without it it'd be impossible to sit on a branch or grab something.
So that had to be fixed!

After it'd been living in the "dunno what to do with this painting" space upstairs for 15 years (!!) I'm now very happy with it and I do intend to find a spot somewhere on a wall :D

My PC and/or external HD.
Everything that is important is on there from photos to documents.

I'd lose all my own photos from childhood, teenage years etc. but you gotta make a split-second choice of what outweighs the rest.

Thank you, Julie :)