JeraDarklighter's profile

Last login: 19 hours agoJeraDarklighter: Jera is a 29 year old married woman from Vancouver, Washington, USA.; Likes 7,720 pages, 122 videos, 41 photos • 881 fans • Received 97 reviews; Member since Dec 21, 2004

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Spin the black circle: May 8, 7:57pm 63 reviews online-games
http://www.funny-city.com/1845/; Wow... simple concept, very well executed. An innovative, addictive and surprisingly difficult game!

http://www.albinjohnson.com/501stlog/history2003-05/dorman-501st-finished.jpg: Apr 20, 11:55am 61 reviews science-fiction
http://www.albinjohnson.com/501stlog/history2003-05/dorman-501st-finished.jpg; nice! Just found my new desktop background.

SoundClick artist: Dawns Darkness - Eclectic indie pop/rock featuring both male …: Apr 2, 6:31am 1 review music, rock, indie-music
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=785306; A lot of people have been asking me what I've been up to musically of late. Well... I'm still writing away and have a whole slew of songs yet to record... but I have a project I completed around the New Year that I kept under wraps. I was planning on launching a full marketing campaign, but things change, and I don't want to wait any longer to share music with people who have been so supportive of my work in the past.

This is a link to the musical project I did last fall... I put together a rock band comprised of very talented local musicians, wrote, recorded, produced and mixed down the three songs here. And of course, sang the female vocals and played keys. Definitely my biggest musical project ever.

Unfortunately, the lead guitarist had to return to Iraq (he's in the national guard... what a travesty), and we all ended up going our separate ways after this demo was complete... but I learned so very much, and I'm very proud of the result.

Give us a listen at soundclick.com/dawnsdarkness. If you enjoy, thumb it up and pass it on to friends! Lots of people listening gets us higher in the Soundclick charts, and thus helps us get more exposure! Feel free to drop a note and let me know what you think.

For those of you who prefer Myspace, you can add me at myspace.com/dawnsdarkness. Also, it bears mentioning that you can pay what you want to download our music at Songslide.com!

If you miss the music I previously did with Ian Woods and Pheonix Rising, visit myspace.com/pheonixrisingmusic.

For those of you who would enjoy hearing some just-me-and-the-piano rough cuts, including the new song "My Misfortune", visit my solo page at myspace.com/jordanakocher. Much love to you all.

Housewifeology: 7 must-read websites for the frugal housewife: Apr 2, 5:51am 4 reviews homemaking
http://www.housewifeology.com/2008/03/7-must-read-websites-for-frugal.html; I'm sure this is full of great information. I should read it someday.

Says she who just bought a pair of Versace glasses.

I couldn't resist... the last pair I bought were purchased at Wal-Mart (ewww. no, I don't shop there now) probably six years ago... they weren't too nice and the frames fell apart, screws stripped... held them together with string on one side, then the other side stripped and a safety pin was required there... finally replaced the frames completely and while they aren't the greatest, they've gotten me through.

I figured I was due a new pair, as I must admit I wear glasses much more frequently than contacts. This is probably the first and last purchase of Versace for me... and I'm very excited about them.... those of you who know me won't be surprised that they have considerable bling in the form of rhinestones at the temples. I'll actually want to wear them in public for a change!

I know designer items are very expensive. That said, they are irrefutably quality. Anyone who has purchased a designer item of clothing or handbag will tell you that it lasts for EVER. I suspect I'll have these Versace glasses for many years to come... probably longer than I'll want to have super blingy rhinestones.

Then again, knowing my personality, I'll still be all about the bling when I'm a granny. If I ever get to be a granny... which is another line of thought entirely.

I chose the "homemaking" category back in 2004 when I first signed up for Stumble... and at that point in my life I was utterly focused on becoming an uber-housewife and mom. Well, guess what... not a mom, and still a crappy housekeeper. And while I'm an excellent bargain shopper, "Jordana" and "thrifty" don't really coexist well in a sentence.

A bargain is a pristine 32-inch flat panel monitor I bought on ebay for $700 to replace my ancient and dying 22 inch CRT. It was a steal, but I really had no cause to be so lavish. (Nor am I sorry, either). It just arrived last week and I am LOVING it. I feel like I'm finally properly in the 21st century now. Only took me eight years to get there... go me!

All this makes me consider the possibility that perhaps it is time to remove "homemaking" from my list of interests. However... it still interests me, just more on the level of "morbid curiosity" and remembering with a mixture of fondness and horror how hard I tried to squeeze myself into the frugal housewifely paradigm, and how utterly I failed.

On the plus side... failure doesn't have to be a bad thing. If I had actually succeeded, I would probably have driven myself completely mad being something that is diametrically opposed to my nature. (No offense to those women out there who exemplify homemaking; I respect it highly.) I'd be Stumbling from a mental institution right now.

Probably some of you already think that I am.

Things that make you go... hmmmm....

mp3 or not - Dont you hear it?: Apr 2, 5:41am 128 reviews music
http://mp3ornot.com/; Easy to tell; I happened to listen to the 320kb/s one first and knew before I listened to the other one that it was high quality. Then again, I have studio monitors in here.

Incidentally, for those of you who seem confused in your comments... both these files are MP3. One is the standard 128kb/s bitrate that comprises most music people download on the internet. The other is the much better 320kb/s bitrate. It's not perfect... no mp3 is... but it sounded quite nice. I suspect that I wouldn't be able to tell it from a native, uncompressed WAV file.

If you're interested in lossless audio, you might look into the FLAC format (free lossless audio compression). Files are bigger but they do not suffer the loss of quality that mp3s do. I was contemplating offering some of my new music for fans to download in this format... I wonder if anyone would be interested?

Twenty-five tips on staying married fit for wedding gift : Opinion Columnists :…: Apr 2, 12:08am 29 reviews married-life
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2008/mar/16/twenty-five-tips-on-staying-marr...; ...ADVICE as a wedding gift? Bleh. Advice is something that everyone wants to give away and nobody really wants to take. Is it just me, or does this sound terribly cheap?

Most of this is either a) common sense b) completely impossible to do all the time c) doesn't apply to everyone and d) is ages out of date. Pat little sayings like this are often not worth the time it takes to write them... and I don't know if this is from a "feminist" perspective - more like a "She is a goddess and is never wrong" perspective. Since when does this mean equality? While it might work most of the time... eww. I personally like men to have some backbone, thank you very much. (Yes, I've been married seven and a half years, so I can speak with at least a bit of authority.)

One point I definitely disagree with: sometimes even if you're still mad it IS better to stop fighting and get some rest (if you can) because goodness knows people are much grouchier and prone to fight and be unreasonable when very tired.

But... I do agree with one of her points in particular. I really DON'T get tired of being told I'm beautiful. I do think women need to be told that regularly to try and combat the horrid self-image that the media and advertisers are trying to sell them.

/soapbox

10 Most Amazing Illusions: Mar 29, 10:08pm 54 reviews humor
http://www.oddee.com/item_87479.aspx; I don't know that these are the MOST amazing visual illusions, but they're fun to look at.

Please pass this on.... - Mineral Makeup Addicts!: Mar 29, 10:04pm 23 reviews
http://mmu.groups.vox.com/library/post/6a00e398c04d68000500e398e9ac300005.html; Ugh. I've seen this before, multiple times. Unfortunately, like most emails circulated, it's false information. All of us want to prevent rape and keep ourselves and our loved ones from becoming a victim... but thinking you can avoid harm by doing things like wearing your hair short is ludicrous. Worthless fear-mongering... yuck.

As other people mentioned... most of the statistics included are flat-out wrong. Check Snopes before thumbing this tripe up... sheesh.

Death By Protools: B-Rig Guitar Technique... its not what you think: Mar 29, 12:25pm 2 reviews recording-gear
http://deathbyprotools.com/2008/03/b-rig-guitar-technique-its-not-what-you.html; This blog about DIY recording is a great find. Informative, well-written and doesn't really assume you have any knowledge of things to begin with... which is great for someone like me that is only just now getting serious about learning how to record.

Mar 27, 7:01pm: To all friends on SU, both old and new, and to those people who have been kind enough to drop me a note here... I've been sucked into that vast abyss of MMORPG gaming at last. I always swore that I would never, ever play MMOs because I am a compulsive RPG video gamer, and I need games that have endings. That way, I know when to stop playing.

However, a dear friend and fellow Star Wars fan of mine talked me into playing Star Wars Galaxies. It is the most awesome thing I've ever played. I am SO addicted... and consequently, the copious amounts of procrastination I used to apply here at SU are now directed towards leveling up my Twi'lek beastmaster/medic and re-engineering starship parts with my shipwright. The geekiness abounds.

If you happen to play too and are on the Ahazi server, look me up. I'm Ciantarah, the lavender Twi'lek in rad bright purple and black battle armor who rides a purple AT-RT and has a big purple Corellian Sand Panther as a pet. Who would as soon eat you as look at you... (good kitty). Because I LIKE PURPLE. a lot. As soon as I get my advanced X-wing, that baby's getting a coat of purple paint too. (Incidentally, Ciantarah is the name of the main character in my novel, and my panther is named Ebernhart, the name of the prince she falls for. Cute, no?)

I still Stumble a bit here and there... I've just been doing it way too long to ever give it up... but I just wanted to let you all know I'm not dead, lol.

Love, Jera (aka Ciantarah)

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