Tuesday, December 30th

Happy New Year!

As we close out 2003 and begin 2004 let us pray for strength, courage, wisdom, and guidance in everything we do. I hope all of my web family has a great New Years celebration and especially stay safe!!! When I was a youngun back in the day New Years Eve was the one night when it seemed OK to get not just drunk, but go beyond that stage and enter the "tord-up" stage. Again, I speak only for me, since I know some of my readers may still be regular elbow-benders and enjoy the haze that only a pitcher of beer, 4 rum and cokes, and untold glasses of champagne can bring, but as for me now that I have matured and mellowed out some I realize that drinking oneself into a stupor on New Years Eve just aint fun and never was...period...No matter how you choose to bring in the New Years, just use good judgement, common sense and if you do plan on getting "hazy", leave the car keys at home!

Again, I thank God for all of my web family and the kindness, respect, and love they have given me throughout the last year and I wish all sorts of good things in 2004 for each of you!

Happy New Years!

artist greggy on 12.30.03 @ 09:02 PM EST
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Friday, December 26th

Just wondering....

ok...Remember I told you guys a long time ago that I occasionally let my mind wander off where ever it pleases when I am bored or just letting my thoughts roam...well, I did it again, and it's not good...hehehe, I swear, where does this stuff come from in my brain I don't know, but here goes...

I was just sitting here thinking about nothing when that nothing developed into what I'll refer to as "deep nothing". I actually got to wondering about animals and people. Hmm, I wonder if animals go out of their way to avoid eye contact with each other like humans do when we pass each other on the street? Or when they are with groups of other animals or insects, what the heck goes through their minds? Do they be thinking stuff like.."Hmm, I should just walk over to skinny and bite the ish outta him?", that kind of stuff?...or maybe an insect is flitting past and thinks.."I'll just go over there and sting the &%#@ out of my boy there..."?....I wonder how animals and insects view us as a species and whether they secretly plot to take over the world and eat us all up?..(I know roaches and ants do)...LMAO...now that I've let my thoughts go out there for a few, it's time to come home now and go create something....LOL...Happy Friday and Weekend to all!

~1~
artist greggy on 12.26.03 @ 01:31 PM EST
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Thursday, December 25th

Mellow

Now that I am sitting at home finally finding that chill zone after the Shock and Awe campaign from the toy manufacturers has passed...toys are fun, man I look at the toys the youngsters get now-a-days and it's like...whoa...some of that stuff you can't even call toys...it is kind of sad though because most of the "toys" they make now have very little "imagination" content like the good old days, (for you younger folk that's pre-70's)...Most of the stuff now makes a lot of noise and flits about real quick but after that...???? I'm still a big kid at heart and got a real kick out of playing with my grandson while he "set-up" his imaginary world using the toy men and play animals etc we got him...mmm, sure brought back some fond memories of my childhood when I built my own little "countries" and cities with my pop-sicle sticks and toy people...then "blew" them up with fire-crackers with my army men during a "war"! LMAO....Anyways, I pray for peace and understanding between all men and women this Season and beyond...
I hope that this Christmas was a very good one for all!
artist greggy on 12.25.03 @ 05:04 PM EST
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Wednesday, December 24th

Merry Christmas

Hey gang! Merry Christmas! I hope all of you enjoy a safe holiday. For those of you who are traveling this holiday, please be safe and watch out for the other driver out there! I may or may not get a chance to blog again here over the next week since Grey Matter seems to be having emotional issues lately. My page keeps losing it's blog section, it keeps dropping out, so if you ever stroll over my way and my blog is unavailable, it's something that I know about but have no control over. Have a good day!!!
p.s...As we rush around preparing for Christmas Day let us take a moment
to remember the Reason for the Season.
~1~
artist greggy on 12.24.03 @ 06:56 AM EST
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Saturday, December 20th

Making no noise...

Seriously not making no noise today..Today I just plan on marinating on low, letting the flavors of the day seep into my consciousness...(all of course after the usual domestics)...I guess it's a perfect time to flow and let my art sense take over. I remember a time when I used to pick up a book and read it through or pull out my beat-up sketch pad and draw or doodle for hours whenever I was "trying to find a flow", so to speak...Now my computer has changed all of that. Whenever I'm feeling a little "strung" or wound up, either from job issues or domestic realities, I escape to my digital art. That does not mean that whenever I am doing art that I am upset or feeling depressed, it just means that when that mood settles on me, art is usually my escape route now. Today feels like it will be a good day for me... let the vibes flow through and remove any doubts or misconceptions..enjoy the moment and live well. On that note, hugs, kisses, and handshakes (where necessary ) to all my family and friends for visiting my site over the past week and helping me to fit the pieces of this puzzle called life together.
I love all of you!
Be good to each other out there y'all.
~1~
artistgreggy on 12.20.03 @ 09:21 AM EST
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Thursday, December 18th

Where is your heart?

Where do you live within your own heart? Are you the type of person who hides when religious sects and or salesmen come knocking at your door? Do you turn down the T.V. and quiet the place up when you see unwanted guests (not family) approaching your doorstep? When the telly goes off and the caller ID indicates it's some one who you know is going to ask a favor of you, do you let it ring it's tail off and go to voicemail? It's kind of funny how far some folk go to "hide"..LOL. The way I look at it, why hide anyway. What is there to fear by having it "your" way? If in your heart, you do not feel like speaking to someone at the door, or having unwanted guests over unexpectedly all the time, why not just say so? Just tell them up front, "Thank you but I'm sorry..." or something to that effect, and most of the time people will respect your wishes, I've found. When you go all out of your way to hide or conceal what your desires are, it's almost like they can sense that it seems. They zero in for the kill! Ever notice how people will keep calling even though you let it go to voicemail 500 times already? Or keep banging on the door for like 1/2 hour?...LOL...Are you a "hider" or do you just go on and answer the dang thing? LMAO
Y'all have a great Thursday and/or Friday depending on where you are in the wurld ;o)...payce!
artistgreggy on 12.18.03 @ 07:21 AM EST
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Wednesday, December 17th

Powering down...

Here it is...past the mid-nite hour, under normal circumstances a brutha should be in bed going into power saver mode...but normal is a cussword to me...I am a non-conformist :o) I can't help it, I know I should be getting my ZZZZ's earlier but my brain just doesn't want to agree with my body when I go to bed any earlier than midnite, unless I'm illing or something. I live for the power nap during the day, though. Give me a nice quiet spot in the middle of the day, maybe a full tummy after lunch, and a stretch where my phone dosen't ring for maybe 20-25 minutes...shooo...may as well say "gnite greg" LOL. I remember once when my wife Cheryl caught me sound asleep at my computer at home long after I should have turned it off and went to bed...she had walked into the room and startled me awake and was laughing saying "take your butt to bed boy!.." and I was protesting trying tell her I wasn't sleep, but then she pointed at my computer screen and it was cold and dark (meaning it had long since went into power saver mode, proving my butt had been sleep for at least 15 minutes!)..I couldn't say anything but laugh and go on to bed...Funny how even now as an older person even though I know it's time to go to bed, I still fight it to the end..just like I did when I was younger..LOL...with that smile. I now reluctantly, but knowingly drag my brain to bed....*yawning*..gnite :o)
artistgreggy on 12.17.03 @ 12:21 AM EST
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Tuesday, December 16th

The things folk do...

< shaking head >...I was just watching the morning news and saw that a group of several hundred fools "camped out" overnight in downtown Baltimore on the sidewalk in front of a moobie theater in order to be able to have "bragging rights" that they were one of the fist to see that new Lord of the Rings moobie "Return of the King"...my brothers and my sisters I am here to tell you that there is no future in that. Why would a rational person do that? In freezing rainy cold-azz weather mind you. They not only camped out, since 7:00 p.m. the night before but once the doors open later today, will stay inside the moobie theater to watch extended versions of the whole series and won't come out until some 15 hous later... Three words here come to mind..."Get A LIFE". Feel me? I don't care how good an actor ANYONE in this entire world is, you will NEVER catch this brutha camping out overnight to catch a moobie. Who gives a rats behind whether you saw the moobie first, second, or were the 3,000th person in line? As fast as they be coming out on DVD after being released, why would anyone?...All of this is part of that insane consumer phenomena where folk be getting up at 2:00 a.m. so they could go early Christmas shopping at the malls just to find a stoopid DVD player or some other piece of junk for a few bucs off...< /shaking head >

Ok my peoples, now that a brutha done vented his daily quotient, and am ready to face the harsh realities of an uncaring world, let me leave you with this: "Hold a true friend with both your hands"
~1~

artistgreggy on 12.16.03 @ 06:59 AM EST
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Sunday, December 14th

Just chillin'

Hmm...not much to yak about tonight..I did come on to write something but somewhere in between when I logged on to the PC and when I logged in here at GreyMatter, I lost something....Basically my writing mind is a blank, although creatively there's some serious commotion going on in the other part of my brain where art is manufactured...guess I'll flip the script tonight and flow on out of this joint...Y'all be good, be very good...Santa's watching :o)
artistgreggy on 12.14.03 @ 11:59 PM EST
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Thursday, December 11th

Dreaming...

Sometimes, especially in my younger days, my dreams were so crazy that they left me going *hmmm* You ever had the kind of dreams where you are in your own house but its in another state, or part of the house is your mothers house and the downstairs is your sisters house or something wild like that? Or dreamed that you had found major loot and when you woke up it was just a dream and you were like*&%#@!* I remember when I was a boy the older folk used to always warn me that if I was ever dreaming that I was falling to make sure I woke up before I hit the ground in my dream or it would make you have a heart attack...Thats a bald-faced lie. I spent all of my childhood and most of my early adult years making sure my butt woke up in time every time I had that kind of dream. For years I was able to wake up just before I would hit bottom and would always be like thinking to myself, "whew*....Until one night when I was in my early twenties, I was dreaming hard, all kinds of wild stuff, then the usual, the falling sensation....I was like streaking towards the ground like a bullet it seemed..LOL..Of course my butt was struggling to wake the heck up since I knew the deal...but this time...BLLLAAAAAMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!! Man, I hit the ground so hard, I swear to you my bed was still moving when I woke up! But after that, I knew it was safe to make a landing in my dreams! Now if someone could have just found a way to convince me that the "bogeyman" was really just a figment of my imagination back then, I might have had a normal childhood! LOL

On a more serious note, remember to pray for those around you who are suffering through no fault of their own...God is good.
artistgreggy on 12.11.03 @ 07:41 PM EST
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Tuesday, December 9th

Idling mind...

I remember when I was young I used to worry about the wildest things...When I was around 6 or 7, I used to worry that the earth was going to stop spinning around and we all would freeze up or burn up depending on which side of the planet we were on...yeah, I was the young scientist back then. I used to wonder where wind was coming from and whether or not it would stop blowing for good...Often I would squint at the sun and wonder what would happen if it winked out...Most of all that worry was long since forgotten as I matured into the older gentleman that I am now (wink).....until recently when we went through a series of particularly severe "solar flare eruptions" that were not in the normal swing of things as far as the sun is concerned...Kind of left me idly wondering again about it all...Do you ever find yourself thinking "deep" stuff like that? Not all the time, mind you, but every now and then letting go with some serious mindflow? Do you take it for granted that the earth will keep on spinning around forever and ever? Or that the sun will burn day in and day out like clockwork, just because thats the way things are? Or are you of the "what the heck do I care about that for?" persuasion and have never given a red hoot to stuff like that?
~1~
artistgreggy on 12.09.03 @ 10:49 PM EST
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Saturday, December 6th

Let it snow, let it snow....

We just had what some here refer to as our first "significant" snowfall of the season. To some, “significant snowfall" means anywhere from 2-5 inches. To me, “significant” snowfall is 6 inches and beyond. I remember back in the day growing up in the country in western Pennsylvania, now back then we had some SIGNIFICANT snow. Now-a-days, let the weatherman mention “Our latest satellite indicators shows a slight predisposition towards favorable atmospheric conditions that may initiate moisture initiatives capable of inducing a snow occurrence in the upper levels of the troposphere that may impact your local weather conditions…” and all of a sudden folk lose their minds and rush out to the market to “stock-up” as if there is going to be a nuclear holocaust or something. They frenzy-shop as if they will be snowed in and house-bound for weeks...LOL! Then all the T.V. stations go on 24/7 “LIVE Snow TEAM INSTANT WEATHER Coverage”, constantly “We are broadcasting to you "LIVE INTANT ON-THE-SPOT-RIGHT FROM YOUR BACKYARD EYE-TO-EYE WEATHER TEAM COVERAGE” available exclusively AND ONLY here on CHANNEL blah.blah.blah….” Why do they torture us so? I can see it’s snowing when I look out my window, I know how cold it is when I stick my butt out the door, just tell me how deep it’s supposed to get and how long it’s supposed to stay cold, and I’ll be good to go! I don’t need to be constantly reminded every few minutes that it’s snowing or snowed already, or might snow again sometime in the future..

*splashing water on face*

OK, how y’all doing?

artistgreggy on 12.06.03 @ 03:21 PM EST
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Friday, December 5th

Interesting information I think...

For the last month or so I had noticed that whenever I accessed my site and the sites of a few of my on-line friends that I would immediately get a series of advertising pop-ups and pop-unders. For the longest time I had just chalked all of it up to the usual internet advertising pop-up hell that I wade through on a daily basis and at first didn’t pay it much mind. But as time went on and I got to thinking…hey, this is MY personal website and I didn’t authorize or sign-up for any kind of advertising program with my webhost, since I PAID for my domain name and the whole nine…After many frantic days of sending emails, telephone calls etc...trying to find out how and why I was getting these pop-ups upon entrance to my site, I finally discovered what the heck was going on. Earlier this year I downloaded one of those “free” scripts that you can get just about anywhere that you place on your webpage, the one that tracks the “on-line users at the current moment” script. Many of us have this script on our pages and if you are using a “pop-up” blocker you probably will never notice that your page along with others is now a portal for pop-ups as long as that script is being used on your page. In my particular case, the original script was provided by an outfit by the name of UCG-2000.com or something like that. Earlier this year they changed into VEROWEB services or something like that and also secretly tweaked the coding for the script that had been previously downloaded and placed on a lot of people’s pages. Of course they never informed me of what they had done to the coding that had already been placed on my site. It now not only continued doing what it originally was downloaded for, which was to track the "on-line" users at the current moment, but had also become a sort of “portal” for advertising pop-ups and pop-unders when ever a page containing that script was accessed. I was just notified today by telephone by my webhost where the offending coding was originating from and immediately removed it from my pages. At once the pop-ups stopped. If you or someone else notices a 100% increase in pop-ups when people visit your site or when you visit other folk’s sites then more than likely you or they are using one of those “free” scripts that have been secretly tweaked by the place that you got it from to allow advertising pop-ups to show on whatever page the script is loaded on. I can’t speak for the scripts that were downloaded from other sources but at least in my particular instance what I mentioned above is 100% true. Remember, nothing in life is really "free"..you're going to "pay" for it one way or another. In this case, by agreeing to place a "free" on-line users script on my page I was really agreeing to allow them to use my site as a launch pad for thier pop-ups! I stand informed!!
artistgreggy on 12.05.03 @ 12:14 AM EST
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Thursday, December 4th

Thanks my peoples!!! :o)

Just a short note of thanks to my web-family for taking the time to encourage me and comment on my blog. You guys are much appreciated!! Much love and respect to Nina, Joy, Ray, Mechie, Shanti, Soul, Pear, Shun, Cheryl, France, Chele, Chandra, and Ebony for just being y'all! High-fives, hugzzz, and kissses to all involved! All of you guys are like pieces of a puzzle, each one of you help to complete me and make me whole. ~1~
artistgreggy on 12.04.03 @ 07:24 AM EST
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Wednesday, December 3rd

Law and Disorder....

Okie...Someone help me out here. After recently viewing over and over again the videotape of those Ohio coppers beating the schmuck outta that guy, I am again dumbfounded as to why they had to beat the ish outta him in order to arrest him? Whatever happened to good ole fashioned MACE or teargas? Or for that matter a stun gun? I am sure they have them weapons at their disposal, no? I don't care how big a person is, or how highed up you are, after a jolt or two from a stun gun, I guarantee you will be in no mood or capacity to fight back. I am most perturbed by the actions of the one cop who was poking the ish out of the guy with his bully stick while he was apparently laying on the ground already surrounded and nearly subdued at that point. Some folk have beeched about how the guy instigated the whole affair and how he deserved it, but from my POV, no one deserves to be beat down like that. I mean if he did instigate it and was that out of control and they felt that "threatened" for their lives, why didn't they just bust a cap in his kneecaps to take him down or use some other non-life threatening method of submission. I find it hard to believe that all them cops could not subdue one person without having to beat him down like that for the length of time they did. And the fact that it happened in a city that already is rife with racial tensions over several incidents of cops beating to death black suspects shows a major lack of sensitivity to that community. Makes you wonder exactly what they teach the rookies fresh outta cop school on how to handle these kinds of situations...Okie, let me step down from my vent box and send all of y'all some love jones! Loving my peoples!!!
artistgreggy on 12.03.03 @ 09:02 PM EST
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