Since my last post about Godzilla's battle against the worse case scenario of a yeast infection, my husband and I now had him on grain free foods for almost a week and, we've been washing him every couple of days and rinsing with a baking soda rinse. They did say that the condition will appear worse the first week and then, hopefully, begin to disappear, but we're talking a few months here. His immune system is compromised from chemo and steroids.
neck area
Here are a few pictures to show you that the skin under Godzilla's neck is almost free of hair and his skin feels like elephant skin. The skin under the fur on his lower back, is raw. I sure hope this treatment of foods and meds works because I hate to see the little guy suffer like this.
rear area
Today, my friend Rita and I were at the Laurel Hill Cemetery for their Bones, Bells & Whistles Event which ties in with Philadelphia's Science Festival Event. You can learn more about this event here: http://www.philasciencefestival.org/calendar
I love the Laurel Hill Cemetery and its a place rich in history. They have a neat gift shop, too. If you look closely you'll see my book on the shelf. While we were packing the activities to be used at today's event and gentleman came in to buy my book. Lucky him, I was there to sign it for him.
My magnolia tree is in bloom and so is my cherry blossom tree.
There are rabbits living under our shed in the back yard and you can see that Snowflake and LeLe are trying to introduce themselves.
I just took out all my garden stuff, fairies, dragons, frogs and lots of gnomes. I try to set up a mystical theme in my secret garden. I'll take a picture when I'm done setting up Gnome Town.
A fellow member of the South Jersey Writers Group was at one of my favorite book stores doing a book signing. Christine Hardy has short stories featured in several anthologies starting with “The Gargoyle Cat,” for Tall Tales and Short Stories from South Jersey (our group's first anthology)
Here is some information on Christine Hardy's other works:
A Bard Day's Knight “The Dragon in the Kettle”
When the illegal dragon’s egg heating a young blacksmith’s
forge hatches, she tries to sneak the baby dragon out of town in a kettle, but
babies, especially fire-breathing ones, never stay where you put them for long.
Reading Glasses “The Beach House”
After her best friend Pooja drowns in Ocean City, NJ, Amber is
haunted by Pooja’s ghost as the U.S. faces yet another nuclear standoff with
North Korea. Too wrapped in grief to take the threat seriously at first, Amber
discovers that the two events are linked in a way she couldn’t possibly have
imagined, and not just she but the entire planet is running out of time
When Marsh takes his niece on her first roller coaster ride
at a historic Lake Erie amusement park, he discovers it’s being plagued by the
not-so-mythical Ohio lake monster, Bessie. Marsh recruits the park employees to
help drive Bessie back into deeper water with help from an unexpected source: a
fiberglass dragon who doesn’t always stay on his track.
Rosemary and Jeff, the wonderful owners of the Book Asylum always supply a tray of delicious cookies for each book signing event. Great deal if you ask me. You get a great book to read, support a budding author and feast on cookies and great coffee.
I’m belong to a group of talented and compassionate people who have
different levels of sensitivity and psychic abilities to the paranormal world.
We meet once a week with our instructor, who is a medium, professional ghost investigator, mentor and friend. Her name is Marti and, we are her angels. She is helping us to recognize and build the powers within ourselves. Most people have this power,
but are afraid to tap into it. This is why it's such an exhilarating experience
to be with same minded and equally sensitive individuals. With Marti's guidance, we are growing
beyond the limits of our physical beings.
This week’s assignment was to prepare ourselves for remote
readings. An example of a remote reading is if I were to give a person an inspirational reading over the phone. Most of the group is already capable of doing a one-on-one reading in
person using their Angel Inspiration Cards, but over the phone? This was a new
concept to me.
The cards that I use
Marti asked us to try an experiment. She wanted us to create
a space in our mind of a safe, happy place that we could go to during the
remote readings. She also told us this place could be anywhere. She described
her place which was a room full of books and artifacts and a comfy chair. One
woman thought of a place in the forest where the trees themselves were
bookshelves. Most of the group picked places on Earth, but I’m the oddball of
the group. I’d already had my happy place. Had it since I was a kid, but it was
miles and miles above the Earth.
Sphere
Whenever I think of a happy place, it is not on Earth, but
inside a big sphere. It’s a spaceship made of glass and metal. It hovers over
the Earth most times, but will travel to the ends of the universe, when I wish.
I have books, many books and, a floating lounge chair to sit on and read said
books. I’m not alone. I have two robots that make me cups of tea and, biscuits. They also make sure that we stay on course as we hurtle through space.
There are three Totem animals that have made their home inside the sphere with me. They are my spirit guides. Besides the tiger, grizzly bear and eagle,
I also have a pilot.
It's GOD and HE likes to show me all the places he
has created. Sometimes we'll even land and walk upon these other worlds, but some worlds
are hostile and we don't go there. GOD keeps me and the Sphere safe
from evil things.
Conclusion
This week, Marti’s angels will have to visit there happy
place at least once a day for inspiration. We also need to keep a list of any messages we
will receive while inside our special places. The
tiger is the only one talking so far. He keeps repeating one word; explore. GOD agrees with the tiger. I think I’ll take their advice.
I have three dogs. Two of them are Chihuahuas and
the other is a toy Yorkie. We got Godzilla, the Chihuahua around eight years
ago. My youngest grandson, Nathan, accompanied my husband and me when we went
to pick up Godzilla from a family who not only raised this breed dog, but had
both parents of our dog living in their home. This was definitely not a puppy
mill, but people who loved the breed and only allowed the female to breed after
several years in between litters.
My grandson and husband picked the small ball of fur
that was to become our family and Nathan named him. Nathan was four years old
at the time and my husband and I were amazed with the name he chose; Godzilla,
Wonder Pet, Super Dog. It was quite a big name for such a small dog.
Godzilla soon proved to everyone that he was indeed
a wonder pet and super dog. Chihuahuas are very brave for their small statue.
Godzilla the dog would have made the Japanese creature of movie fame that he was
named after, very proud of him.
When Godzilla was around four years old, he became
very sick. I think it had to do with the food. Dogs and cats were getting sick
and many died because of the contaminated food. No one wanted to take responsibility
for all these deaths and American companies who produced pet foods were blaming
the Chinese government. Personally, I think both countries were equally at
blame, but let us not go there, yet.
The vet had to keep our dog on I.V. fluids at his
office for about a week until the problem cleared up. We thought he was out of
the woods, but he wasn’t. About this time, we had purchased a white female
Chihuahua and named her Snowflake. Nathan was with us this time, too. Snowflake
and Godzilla were adorable together. They were inseparable. Then the
unthinkable happened.
Godzilla developed lumps which turned out to be
lymphoma; a death sentence for humans and dogs most of the time. The Vet told
us that even with chemo, we were only looking at eighteen months. My husband
and I decided on the chemo and, for four years Godzilla went through the
routine of injections, pills and blood tests. He was a trooper. After four
years, he was found to be free from lymphoma.The whole neighborhood and our family celebrated this good news.
Everyone in the town of Audubon, N.J. knows Godzilla and his sister Snowflake.
This past year, we took in a five year old, five
pound ball of terror; a toy Yorkie. I named her LeLe, but my husband calls her
the Tasmanian devil after the cartoon character. She is adopted, but is
afraid of men. The first few months that she lived with us, my husband was
constantly sporting bandaged fingers. She’s gotten use to him now.
We noticed that Godzilla was developing a problem
with his skin. It smelled horrible and he was losing fur. Was the cancer coming
back? Was it mange? Nothing worked and it got worse. We increased his steroids,
but to no avail.
We
are what we eat
I am certain that the food industry is trying to
make us all sick. The same ills that we find in the human population are also
hitting our pets and, it’s because of the food. Because of his poor immune
system, the chemo effects, the steroids, Godzilla had a bad case of yeast
infection throughout his whole system. What the %#$%? My husband bought only
the best food: no chemicals, no coloring, no junk, but we didn’t know about the
allergy to grains.
We are on a strict diet of grain free foods. I guess
it’s like the Dr. Atkins diet for dogs. We not only have him special foods, but
we have him on special water and stuff like granules, Ox E Drops, Tincture of
Blackleaf and BacPac Plus which is a special digestive enzyme. We even have to
bath and rinse him in a special solution.
I worry about the foods we people eat and, all the
stuff that companies refuse to put on the labels. Our food is overly processed,
overly salted, full of sugar and, may contain antibiotics, hormones and
chemicals that we can’t even pronounce. And, with Monsanto being as powerful as
it is, we don’t know if or when we’re eating genetically modified food. If the
food industry doesn’t care about us, why should they worry about pets, right?
Conclusion
I’ll keep you all updated on Godzilla’s condition. I
want this dog to live a long and happy life. His sisters are keeping an eye on
him to make sure, he stays the course.
I’m getting to do more
fun stuff now that I’m retired than I ever did when I was younger. I had no
idea what a comic con was until my granddaughters Allie and Annie began
attending the one in Baltimore. I’ve always wanted to go to a Comic Con, but I
didn’t get the opportunity until recently. I not only had a blast at the Camden Comic Con, but I met so
many nice people. Bill Haas and I became friends because of this event and I
wanted to know more about this enterprising young man.
Granny: How did you come
up with the idea of the Camden Comic Con?
Bill Haas: Camden Comic
Con, on a primordial level, was a dream I've had since my youth. My father was
an avid collector of comic books and, for a time, an aspiring comic creator.
His interests that developed from his youth informed my interests, as I
surrounded myself with action figures, cartoons, and any media that featured
super heroes. The books themselves were largely off limits to me, as my father
felt I was too young to really appreciate them and that I might damage them.
This point of view also extended to his contemporaries. I remember countless
times going to comic shows and shops and one of the first things being told was
to not touch anything. I always felt that was unfair, as my father and these
collectors, began their live as children picking up magazines and books off
spinner racks. I was also far less interested in collecting the books and
always wanted to meet the individuals behind the books, and to learn from the
creators.
I was never particularly interested in the concept of a group of
collectors selling books to each other. I always wanted it to be more of a
celebration of comics and the artistic medium, rather than about the money
changing hands and getting that rare book. Some interests fall away as we get
older, and my focus moved from comics to filmmaking. I never stopped thinking
about how I would run a comic book show, though. It has always sat in the back
of my mind.
Steampunk Granny with Penguin Friend, Brandon Somers
Fast forward to about
three years ago, I was working at the Stedman Gallery & Rutgers Camden
Center for the Arts, photographing their permanent collection of fine art. At
the same time, my partner, Miranda Powell, was the Arts Education and Community
Arts Program Assistant there. She was working with youth in the city of Camden,
connecting them to the exhibitions the Stedman was displaying and teaching them
about the appreciation of arts and visual mediums.
Many of the individuals she
worked with had no access to cultural events, so for many people this was an
extremely important program. In our personal time, Miranda began telling me
about an upcoming exhibition, one that would feature underground comix and 'zines',
created by avant garde and edgy creators. These were the books that ran counter
to the superhero movement, pieces like R. Crumb's work and Julie Doucet, and
many of their contemporaries. I felt that, while the medium would be
interesting to the youth, I really don't think it would resonate in the same
way.
I suggested that maybe Miranda pitch an idea to create a small comic book
convention that would add a more mainstream or at least a more generalized view
into the sequential narrative world. It started just as a goofy idea that we
thought would have zero traction. Soon, Miranda, who is an extremely motivated
and enterprising young woman, had contacts in the comic industry and had the
support of several entities on campus, and Camden Comic Con was born.
The Gar Podcast Glenn Walker & Ray Cornwell
After that, we made an
agreement that the goal of Camden Comic Con was to be a multi-faceted event:
one that was culturally significant and educational, one that was fun and
entertaining, and one that connected all walks of life to the sequential narrative/graphic
novel medium. If at any point we didn't hit one of the three, we decided we
would walk away. Sure, we have vendors, collectors, and stores selling wares,
but we also have a massive symposium with doctors and professors, we have
workshops featuring acclaimed comics professionals, and we have panels
discussing how to break into comics.
You will never see an actor or
wrestler at our event, unless they come out as an attendee, but we will do
everything in our power to bring out high quality artists and creators. Few
comic conventions do what we are trying to do, with the exception of Hawthorne
High School Comic Con (which is largely supported by The Kubert School). We
would love to get a relationship with them. In the end, there is something for
everyone at our event and as long as we meet those goals and we stay true to
the celebration of the medium, we're successful.
Granny: Who are the
people behind this amazing convention?
Bill Haas: As for who is
behind the curtain: the first year it was largely Miranda Powell, Victoria
Widener (Art Students League president at the time, since graduated), and
myself who developed the event. We later enlisted the aid of Jacola Phillips,
who is a student and member of Campus Activities Board on campus, to help us
with the logistical operation of the day.
We also had financial and logistic
support from various entities on campus, including Office of Campus
Involvement, Campus Center, the Rutgers Camden Center for the Arts, and Events
Office. We also had assistance from John Paul of NJ Comic Book Shows, who gave
us some guidance and helped us with behind the scenes wheel greasing. He was
incredibly generous and helped us get many of our comic dealers.
Allie Gilbert Designer for Loonilolidesigns
For the second year, we
developed a committee that was comprised of Miranda, Patrick Wallace (Campus
Center head), Jacola and myself. We each had distinct roles to play in the
event: Patrick Wallace was our on campus contact and facilitated all of our on
campus logistics, as well as providing financial support to the event. Jacola
was in charge of organizing volunteers and reaching out to student
organizations to sponsor the event. Miranda was our programming coordinator,
developing panels, workshops, and activities with our creators and
professionals.
She also reached out to the Paul Robeson Library and was able to
bring their Buffy to Batgirl Symposium, as well as securing a showing of She
Makes Comics from Sequart. She also secured some of our artists, when I was
unable to make contact with them. I was responsible for filling the dealers’
room with vendors, artists, and guests, as well as organizing the space and
doing all of the web presence and graphic design.
I always bite off way more
than I can chew. We had great support from our campus as well, specifically
from Patrick Wallace and Dr. Lindenmeyer, Dead of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
and Graduate School. From what I understand, she seems to be very supportive of
our event, which is tremendous as it could mean the college will keep us going.
Without all of these individuals, the event would never have seen the light of
day.
Granny: What are your
plans for year three of the Comic Con?
Bill Haas: Because of
the delicate nature of our relationship with Rutgers, we have no firm idea if
there will be a third year. We would all certainly like there to be, but I
cannot say with full certainty there will be. We are truly grateful that
Rutgers has provided us with the financial support to run an event like this,
as it really is an event for their students first and foremost, and the
secondly for the region at large. If they believe the event to not be in line
with their mission statement or providing events for students, they might not
fund another. From what I've heard, however, is that the campus is extremely
supportive and interested in continuing this event.
Many of the students have
said how great it is to have artists come out and show them techniques and just
to be able to interact with these industry professionals on a more personal
level. We have a great deal of supporters in the industry as well, who have
asked us if there is any way to contact the college and convince them to keep
it going. Hearing this makes me believe we'll be able to put on another show,
but I'm a show me, not tell me guy, so I'll wait for the call.
Sarah Hawkins Miduski
With that said, we
certainly have a game plan ready. We are pretty much at capacity for what we
can do in the gym, but we will be filling the entire gym with tables, within
fire code, and moving any entertainment to another venue. Not to insult
our current cadre of guests and artists, but we would like to have even higher
profile artists coming out and to have more of them. We know that we are small,
but after last year, there is no reason we cannot bring out similar level of
guests, especially locals, that our friends at larger events can.
We would like
to have more film screenings, some educational, some for fun. We would like to
get the educational departments on campus even more active in
supporting the event. There is no reason why we can't have a panel or talk
featuring a criminal justice professor discussing vigilantism in comics,
or a psych professor talking about psychiatric issues in comics.
Mistress Rae aka Cinsearae Santiago Reiniger
Overall, we
would love more collaboration with the departments. The more things there are
to do, the higher profile our event becomes and the more traffic we see. We
would also like to mirror our mothership school at New Brunswick and perhaps
have a week of geek/nerdy culture events that lead to our big blowout event,
Camden Comic Con. They could be lectures, talks, artist showcases, etc. that
could help us generate excitement and anticipation, as well as providing even
more opportunities to learn and be enriched.
South Jersey Writers' Group Author, Dawn Byrne
We know that we will be expanding
our gaming next year, as Ed Evans of All Things Fun! was giving us a test run
this year, but is committed to making it a massive event in the future. We just
need to keep bringing the same level of quality guests, programming, and
vendors. We believe the formula works well, but we might shake things up so it
doesn't become stale. We won't really know until we get into the nitty gritty.
Who knows, maybe we could convince the college to go for a 2 day event.
I want to thank Bill Haas for taking the time for this interview and, I'm getting ready for next year's Camden Comic Con. See you all there.
I love
interviewing Independent Artists and recently one of my talented grandchildren,
Allie Gilbert, fashion designer and owner of LooniloliDesigns told me about a
very talent artist and author that she became friends with.
Granny: My granddaughter raved about
your art, Osman. Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Osman Karriem: Thank you. Ever since I was five
years old, I’ve always had an active imagination and before I could even talk I
was drawing and marking things up things that I wasn’t supposed to mark up;
drawing on things that I wasn’t supposed to draw on, but I guess my parents saw
something in what I was doing and didn’t get upset.
I think the
breakthrough came when I was watching a cartoon and, I think it was a Speed
Racer cartoon. There was this car and I had to have it and nobody told me that
I couldn’t make this things so I’m looking all over the house, and mind you,
I’m only five or six at the time. I went searching for supplies in our cabinets,
under the bed, inside my dad’s closets, looking for anything I could use to
make this car and finally I came across some aluminum foil. As they say, the
rest is history.
With my hands,
I’m just squishing and squeezing, bending and twisting and after time it
started to look more and more like the car. After that, I started making
animals and soon I had the attention of the adults and the other kids and they
were saying, “Wow, this is pretty good.”
I continued
with my drawing and sculpturing until I became pretty popular as the kid who
could make things out of aluminum foil. My artist side didn’t stop there and I
got into music at a young age and finally film. When I was thirteen, I tried to
do an ad campaign for Reynolds Aluminum Foil Company. I came up with the
character, Sir Foil-a-Lot and made the horse from the logo they had which was a
Knight and made a couple of other characters; wrote the script; made the jingle
and I submitted it to the company.
Granny: That is so exciting. What
happened?
Osman Karriem: They loved it and said that they
never seen anything like this and that they would talk to some of their people.
I got a few letters from them saying they would try to work something out, but
after a year, the final letter said that they couldn’t do anything with this
because it would be a breach of contract because they already had an
advertising company. I was very disappointed.
Granny: How old were you when you were
receiving these letters?
Osman Karriem: I think I was around twelve at the
time and not knowing better, I submitted the actual sculptures. I didn’t take
pictures and just thought you could trust people. After a while, I stopped
doing sculptures and concentrated on my illustrations and a comic book that is the
inspiration for the novel that I’m working on now.
I went to LA to
pursue my acting, my film work and my music. I figured if I couldn’t make it in
LA, I would forget it. I found a roommate and started Illuminations, the name
for my aluminum foil business. I was also a freelance artist while I was out
there. My girlfriend at the time, it was her birthday and I knew she liked the
Ninja Turtles because they had just come out, so I sculptured my turtles and
painted the turtles. Friends at work suggested that I try selling the
sculptures on Venus Beach and I sold everything within minutes.
Granny: Where can I see the sculptures?
Osman Karriem: On Facebook.
Granny: These are amazing. I love the
Michael Jackson and President Obama. I love that man. You even have the scene
from 911.
Osman Karriem: I’ve done at lot of work for the NFL
and for the Eagles Team. Check out my illustrations.
Marie Gilbert: These illustrations are
amazing. Did you go to art school?
Osman Karriem: No, but I have a natural talent for
art.
Granny: Tell me the name of your novel.
Osman Karriem: The God Wraith: Prophecy
Granny: What is the book about?
Osman Karriem: It’s an epic story about a prophecy
about the person who is supposed to be God’s physical wraith incarnate. The
story starts with an incident that happens in the fifteenth century where a
woman was accused of witchcraft and she gives birth to a child that will determine the fate of the world. I wrote the novel in 2006, but I
updated the book and gave it a new title.
Granny: Have you shown your art in a
studio?
Osman Karriem: I returned back to the east coast
when my brother died and I figured I would move my business here and promote it
here. Right now, my sculptures have taken a back seat in order for me to focus
on my writing, but I will return to the foil art. The revised book should be
out within a few weeks.
Granny: If people want to buy your
book, where can they find it?
Osman Karriem: They will be able to buy the book as
an e-book on any popular platforms, but the hardcover will be out soon.
Granny: Maybe, I can do a review of
your book when it comes out. Can people purchase your foil art from your
Facebook page?
Osman Karriem: Yes, they can contact me there. I
wanted to let you know that I am also involved in a web series called Beyond
Desperation. Damon Darrell is the writer, producer and director of the series. I am the assistant director and I play the character Isaiah Turner.
Granny: Are you on YouTube?
Osman Karriem: Yes, I am.
Granny: I will make sure to share this
with my readers.
Osman Karriem: Pull up episode thirteen and you can
see me. Damon Darrell is a brilliant director.
Beyond Desperation, Episode 13
Granny: It was a pleasure speaking with
you and I’ll have to thank my granddaughter, Allie, for introducing us. I will
make sure to share your site with everyone and when you get your webpage
updated, send it to me. You said you would also display your music on your
website and I’ll be looking forward to checking it out. Thank you so much,
Osman.
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