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Yak,
Yak, Blah, Blah, Blah...
So you want to know about
me!?
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This is downtown
Cleveland, Ohio.
I live in a western
suburb of the city about one mile south of Lake Erie.
I'm married and
have four great kids. I like swimming, ASCII art, and crafts. I have
a graduate degree in Exercise Physiology but spend most of my time driving
my children from activity to activity. I officiate swimming/diving
and spend a lot of time in the swimming pool.
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Some
things about me:
-
birthday: November
19th, late baby-boomer era; Scorpio
-
color eyes:
brown;
color hair:
dark blonde
-
favorite colors:
yellow, purple
-
favorite season:
fall
-
favorite holiday:
Halloween
-
favorite food:
spaghetti, seafood
-
favorite dessert:
cream puffs, RiceKrispie treats
-
favorite flowers:
lilacs, pansies
-
favorite animal:
rabbits
-
favorite sport:
swimming -obviously
-
favorite spectator sport:
Cleveland
Indian's baseball (even when they lose)
-
favorite TV shows:
E.R., Star Trek (NG, Voyager, DS9)
-
favorite actors:
Sean Connery, Harrison Ford, Patrick Stewart, Mel Gibson
-
favorite author:
Stephen King
-
favorite recent movies:
Toy Story, Twister, Nightmare Before Christmas
-
favorite music:
almost everything!
oldies, R&R,
musicals, MoTown, hip-hop, reggae, big band
-
favorite singers:
Phil Collins, Jimmy Buffet, Pink Floyd
-
favorite musicals:
Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Chess
-
favorite comedy:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Ni!)
-
ideal vacation:
sitting on tropical beach w/pina colada in hand
-
favorite past-times:
(besides swimming and ASCII art)
learning new things
on the computer, garage sales, bingo, miniature golf, road rallyes, eating,
sleeping, and family time with our four kids-
(ages 13, 11, 10,
and 8)
-
patron saint:
Saint Anthony, patron saint of lost articles
"Help me from losing
my mind!"
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Let
Me Introduce My Children to You...
.===.
/ ,,, \ .===.
( /6.6\ ) ////\\\ .===.
)( _ )( ((/6.6\)) /_____\__ .===.
( ,'---', ) )( _ )( `\/6.6\/--` ////\\\
/ (\-/) \ ((()---())) ( _ ) \/6.6\/
/_ /o o\ _\ / `@` \ ,'---', ( _ )
| _\ Y /_ | /\/ \/\ / _ \ ,'---',
\(_ `~` _)/ \ | | / /_/ (_) \_\ / \
/ / \ \ \| |/ \ | (_) | / /_/ \_\
/ ()/^\() \ |_____| \|_____|/ \| |/
/. . . . . .\ |__|__| | | | (|_____|)
`"`"|`|`|"`"` | | | | | | |__|__|
|_|_| |_|_| \__|__/ |_|_|
jgs _|_|_|_ _|_|_|_ _|_|_|_ _|_|_|_
(___|___) (___|___) (___|___) (___|___)
MAUREEN MOLLY IAN PETER
age 13 age 11 age 10 age 8
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spunk
(spungk), n. Informal. courage, spirit, or mettle
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So
why am I called "Spunk"?
I can't even count
the number of times that I've been asked "why'spunk'?"... It goes back
several years ago when I purchased my first new car. It was a little red
two-seater and my brother made the remark that it was pretty "spunky".
The name stuck and I applied for special vanity plates. "Spunky" was already
taken but "Spunk" was not. I still have those vanity plates on my car after
a dozen years. Of course it's not the same car- it's a sedan but it's still
red!
I'm one of those
people who tend to burn candles at both ends. I'm always doing something...
hence, my roadrunner .sig: "...always on the go" Others have said that
I'm "spunky". So in another way, the name has stuck.
Before I go much
further... Yes, I know of the connotation that the word "spunk" has in
the UK- It is purely coincidental. I do not use the name with that meaning.
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An ASCII art
friend from Germany gave me some additional
information regarding
the word "spunk". Apparently, the
spunk is a little
gnome-like creature...
The translation
from Flemish to German to English is as
follows:
#######################################
>>> SPUNK is een
lieve guitige trol.
Spunk is a nice
and funny goblin,
>>> Geboren uit
een lotusbloem, is hij niet bang voor
Born out of a lotu
s flower, and he isn't afraid of
>>> spannende avonturen
en grappen maken.
great adventures
and having fun.
>>> SPUNK is dol
op de natuur,
Spunk loves the
nature,
>>> de bijen zijn
z'n grootste vrienden.
The bees are it's
biggest friends,
>>> Zelfs waterspinnen
krijgt hij aan het lachen
Even waterspiders
laugh with him,
>>> en als hij lacht,
hoor je dat dan ook van heel ver.
And if he laughs,
you hear it from far away.
#######################################
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and
here is the spunk itself:
--
thanks to Holger Korn, <spunk@diamonds.albnet.de>
mMMMMmm
mMMMMMMMMMMm
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMm
mm MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMm
MMMMMm mMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
"MMMMMMMMMM" jMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
~~~~~ jMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
mMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMm
jMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
r---. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMg
1 __ `-.____jMMMMMMMMMMM~~~~~~---~~~~MMMMMMMMMMg
1 \_ ~~~~~"MMMMM' 1 1 "MMMMMMM
\_ ~-___ MMMM6 1 jmq jmq 1 MMMMMMMM
\_ M jMMM~ \ M M M M / MMMMMMMMM--______---_
\_ \ qMM~ __---"~~~~~~"--_ MMMf 1
\ MMF __/ -~T~- \ 4M1 ______----~~ /
\__ jMM ~ T_ 1 T_ M# M _/
"MMMM0 \_ 1 _/ ~ jMM / ___/
MMMMMMM \_ _/ _MMMM' /~~
MMMMMMMMmy MMm__mMM~ gMMMM# _/~~
MMMMMMMMM0M \_ _/ wMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMp ~ mMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMM ~T~-~T~~ MMMMMMMMM
MM 1 MMMMM
/~~\_ M
_1 1 ~\ \
_/ 1 1 \ 1___
_/ _/ / 1 1 \
1 / \_ 1 1 1
1 ~-___ \ 1 1
\_ ~-_ 1 1 1
\_ _------~ 1 1 f
\_ 1_ --~ / 1_
\ ____\ 1 1 \
/ \____ ___1 1 1 ___------______
_--_ ----_ ______1_ \__~~~ / \_ \__---~~ _---_~ _Z
__/ ~- _/~~ ~ ~\/~ \_ \ / \
/ / __/ ____ \_ _-^\ 1 _ _/
1_ 1 /~~ _ _ ~-_ / `---_~
~\___ ________________---\________\ /_______/\ _/ /
~~~ \_ _/ ~----~~---~
\_/
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.{{}}}}}}.
{{{{{}}}}}}}.
{{{{ }}}}}}}}}
}}}}} _ _ {{{{{
}}}} 6 6 {{{{
{{{{{ ^ }}}}}
{{{{{{\ -=- /}}}}}}
{{{{{{{;.___.;}}}}}}}
{{{{{{{) (}}}}}}}'
`""'"': :'"'"'`
jgs `@`
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Do
I look anything like the "spunk"? :)
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How
did I get hooked on ASCII Art?
Believe it or not,
I "discovered" ASCII art in winter of 1995. I think I saw a tiny bicycle
made in ascii characters and was totally amazed by it. I joked that someone
must have had too much time on their hands! But still I was in awe of it...
I didn't even know what it was called. After e-mailing several friends,
I found out that it was called "ASCII art". It was then that I found the
USENET newsgroup <alt.ascii-art>
and started lurking to find more of these computer pictures.
I then started collecting
as much of the ASCII art as I could. I began wandering through the internet
and realized that there was way too much to save. I would forget my idea
of having a huge collection... I know where to find the pictures if I want
something.
Being a "crafty"
type person, I decided that I would try to make the ASCII pictures myself.
I've always like to doodle on paper, so I figured it couldn't be that much
different. My first project was to make a signature for me to use. I started
diddling around with the keyboard in May/June of 1996 by doing lettering.
Someone then told me about "FIGLET". For those of you who don't know, FIGLET
is a computer program that creates fancy lettering from text. Hearing about
figlet took the thrill away from making the fonts- I could spend an hour
creating an alphabet by hand and someone else could just press a computer
key and have the letters pop up "pre-made". [FIGLET
LINK]
And so I went on
to the pictures... I know that there are programs available to create ASCII
art -- (I don't know that much aboutthem...) -- but the programs usually
create solid-type ASCII art. Even then, the pictures still are pretty rough
and need touch-ups to make them asthetically correct. I have collected
some conversion software information from <alt.ascii-art> and offer
them to you-- no guarantees--
[CONVERSION LINK]
I make the line-style
ASCII pictures and I don't believe that there are programs for this style.
Basically I sit down at the keyboard and start typing. ['HOW
I DO IT'/TUTORIALS LINK]
OK-- so I can't consider
myself a "newbie" at ASCII art any more. The honeymoon is over! I've been
making the pics since 1996. Some people are anticipating my
"burn-out"-- but I continue to make the ASCII art pictures and I still
look forward to improving. I'd like to be able to look at each of my creations
and say "wow!"-- there are some that I like a lot and there are some that
I consider "ok". Most of the crummy ones have met their demise at the hands
of the delete button. Despite this, I've included some of my early works
in this gallery so you can see how my artwork has evolved. Perhaps I may
inspire other budding ascii artists...
I am just amazed
at all ASCII artwork. There are a limited number of characters available
on the keyboard and they are all fixed. Considering this fact, it is truly
remarkable that there are so many different ASCII art pictures.
I don't know how
long ASCII art has been around. I've been told that it dates back at least
to the 1960s when computers consisted only of large main frames. There
were no PCs and no monitors. Transmissions were done through terminals
that were very much like electric typewriters. Games and pictures were
done in ASCII. (Remember the orignial "Zork"?) Some of the pictures passed
around then are still being passed around today.
See History
of ASCII Art.
For me, the ASCII
art is still pretty new ... although I remember as a kid, my father would
take me to work with him on an occasional Saturday. While there, I would
play on the secretary's typewriter and make pictures on a sheet of paper
using commas and lines-- my "first" ASCII drawings!. (I would also link
all of her paper clips together-- shhh, don't tell my dad!). I had a lot
of fun those weekend mornings... I guess you could say that I've been making
text art -- even before computers! :)
But times have changed!
Gone are the typewriters, papers, and carbon copies. I doodle as I did
as a child... but now I don't need a new sheet of paper or white-out when
I make a mistake. Sigh... and my children have already connected my paper
clips together! :( But that's OK, I don't need them! :) I just have to
fight the kids for computer time!
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