Kate von Katz

I think it's safe to say that a lady should be paid in bills no smaller than $20s. Unless their rates are an odd amount, requiring either a $10, or a $50. But don't pay the majority of the fee in $10s, $5s or coins. It's insulting to be honest.

Funny you posted this. I was just pondering jewelry and the sexes a few days ago. It occurs to me that you never see men wear pearls. Not necklaces, earrings or bracelets. I know it's not directly on topic, but I was mulling it over a few days ago, and it's vaguely relevant. I guess pearls are too feminine. As for any earrings on a man, it's like any other adornment: some people can't pull it off where others can. The same piercing/necklace/tattoo/whatever could really work well with someones "look" and personality, but the same thing on another person wouldn't quite work. I think what looks best is what is the most true to who you are. :-)

Light red isn't the same as a darker red. But I could see how I split the vote. I should get into politics.... It's settled, though. I'm going brunette. Actually just a shade darker than my natural colour. I think. It's been a long time since I've seen my natural colour!

LMAO!! I have the appointment set for tomorrow with my stylist. I'm going brunette! (I honestly thought more people would vote redhead. But others see what we sometimes miss, so I'm going with a more natural brunette hue. I can be a redhead at heart!)

Huh... brunette is taking the lead. Must be my pale skin and green eyes. And yes, I fully agree... a nice brunette makes lighter eyes just pop! And I'm also thinking of adding a bit of a curl to my hair, which I think would look best in brunette. Thanks everyone! I must say, I am actually surprised by the result!

I'm feeling the need for a change, but I'm completely stumped on what to do. I've been light strawberry blonde, brunette, red, and black. Right now I'm tossing a few ideas around, but I haven't decided on anything, so I'm going to throw it out to the masses. Part of me wants to go to a nice rich chocolate brunette. Another part wants to go a light red/blonde. And another part wants to go a nice red (sort of like Jessica in True Blood). Go look at my pics, and tell me which colour you think would suit me best 'cause I honestly can't decide!

The single biggest problem with written communication is that the reader doesn't hear the vocal tones of the composer, leaving the reader to impose their own assumptions and presumptions about intonation. Which can end in verbal sparring matches simply because someone misread sarcasm or aggression when none was actually intended. When in doubt, assume the best. When there's a trend to someone's writings, and it's not the odd sentence here and there that makes you wonder, then it's a slightly different story. You can usually tell when people are knowingly being jerks. Best to assume you're reading into it incorrectly and put it out of your mind.

I'm with Berlin.... all food is good! But if I could only eat one nationality, it would be Pakistani (which is what most of us call Indian).

I'm not a fan of this trendy go green nonsense. For one, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is in order of efficiency. We're recycling everything, yet the recycling process is in many cases as damaging or more damaging than manufacturing new products. Futhermore, recycling that bottle of water makes you feel good about being a consumer-driven drone. It's been proven time and time again that bottled water is just tap water from somewhere else. With a nice little toxic bottle. The Earth was here a really long time before us, and it will still be here a really long time after us. Its not about saving the Earth. The Earth doesn't need saving. Temperatures and ocean levels have been rising and falling for aeons. Check archaeological digsites of ancient ports. They're miles inland. Back in the late 70s when the coming ice age was the trend for the masses, David Suzuki was pumping out documentaries and speaking engagements on why the ice age was coming and what we could do about it. Now he's gone full-circle and is on the global warming bandwagon. If you want to buy "sustainable" products (a word which, by the way, has never been clearly defined in concrete terms and remains a catch-phrase to sell stuff) that's your choice. Ditto organic foods. Though organics have been proven to not only have more dangerous pesticides used on them than the synthetics used on normal crops, but there is zero evidence whatsoever that organic food is healthier for you at all. And it's not a viable means of feeding 7 billion people. I'm not against people who are on this bandwagon, but I myself am not. We're alarmists. Always have been, always will be. Global warming now, ice age not long ago... who knows what's next. But there will be some big perceived threat to make people feel all warm and fuzzy to do their part in saving mankind. It's part of our social make-up.

Nice image: it's a mixture of the Celtic-inspired Maiden-Mother-Crone trinity with the Norse Norns, or fate weavers. Very nice piece, I'd be interested to know more about this carving.

Probably the poem that really got me hooked as a die-hard E A Poe fan: Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow- You are not wrong, who deem That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, or in none, Is it therefore the less gone? All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream. I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand- How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep- while I weep! O God! can I not grasp Them with a tighter clasp? O God! can I not save One from the pitiless wave? Is all that we see or seem But a dream within a dream? His works are often macabre and gothic, but he was brilliant in his insights. It didn't alter my life, but it did inspire me to be more reflective on things.

My Neighbour Totoro NONE of Miyazaki's films should ever be remade! His stuff is great as it is!

Not a remake, but a sequel that may be of interest to some of you that there's talk about. The Dark Crystal 2. Untouchables: Labyrinth, Army of Darkness, The Godfather Trilogy.

Sounds like fun! Reminds me of events held back in BC fairly often.

And get the machine that goes *ping*

How about just saying your cup runeth over? ;-)

I agree with RG, I don't think it's as much the fact that someone has tattoos so much as what tattoos and where they are placed. Tattoos can be like earrings or lipstick - adornments for your body. Personally: each and every tattoo has a specific meaning and was placed where it was for a reason. It is always a good idea to give yourself plenty of time to chew it over before getting it inked. I have a rule with myself that I adhere to: if after 1 full year, I still want the same tattoo in the same place, then I get it. But if someone has a problem with your tattoos it's either because they are offensive (highly unlikely) or its reflective of their own issues that they're just conveniently projecting onto your tattoos.

I'm an animal rights supporter, but I'm by no stretch a vegetarian or a non-animal product user. I simply believe that just because we're going to eat them, doesn't give us the right to treat them like crap before we do. You won't see me at a rally or on the PETA website. I do my part in a quieter way, as it's just how I am. (believe it or not ;-) ) Same goes for a lot of things. You don't have to be personally invested to support something, especially when there's many different levels of support. You don't have to live and breathe anything to support it. You just have to agree with the objective of the movement. Having your voice heard goes against the passive society we live in. So many people support things from a more comfortable position. Doesn't make them less supportive, just a bit more shy about making waves. That's my 2 cents, anyhow.

Thanks! And as Meg said in another thread: we appreciate you, too! Yay for symbiosis!

I know it's probably not what you want to hear, but the best advice I can give you comes from much experience: She'll only hear what she wants to hear. And only when she's ready to hear it. Which basically means that she's gotta come to her own realizations on her own time. It sucks to have to watch it happen, but there's truly nothing else you can do without really sticking your neck out there. Be a good friend. Be there when/if she needs you to be. Support her unconditionally. Hopefully she'll wake up and see what an unhealthy relationship she is in. If not, it may be time to consider moving on because people who perpetually have bad relationship habits will almost always continue to in the future. I wish there was something more I could offer, but the cold hard truth is always the best remedy.

I do need to throw the caveat in there that some ladies do not receive texts or return phone messages. I am one of those ladies. This is not the case in this instance, but I feel the need to remind people that you should thoroughly read the information on the appropriate methods of contacting a lady before assuming she accepts certain methods of communication. In this case, I would agree with most of the gentlemen on here: she is likely on holiday or has personal matters. We do have our own lives outside of this industry, and sometimes personal matters require all of our attention. Give her one last message politely and non-threateningly worded basically conveying your confusion over why she has not returned your messages. If she doesn't respond within a reasonable amount of time, then move on to another lady. Best of luck!

I, too, have had more than my fair share of mysterious sudden illnesses causing clients to cancel. Thankfully they're nice enough to cancel, rather than just not showing up. And I've also had my fair share of random - sometimes downright stupid - things come up that force me to cancel on them. Recently, for example, the building manager decided it's a great time to rigorously test the fire alarm systems in the building, and in each unit. Probably the best someone's told me that I know for a certainty to be true was someone I knew back out in BC who worked in the film industry. For privacy reasons everyone shall remain nameless, but suffice to say a big name actress had all her panties stolen out of her trailer, so my client had to go help with damage control. I know it's true not because I have any insider information, but simply because this was a client with whom I shared a great deal of trust, and I know he'd have the balls to be honest about whatever caused him to cancel.

*facepalm. Sharks are awesome. They're not as mean as a lot of people make them out to be. Again, it's all in the publicity they get.

Tea Party Tragically Hip Deadmau5 Matt Good (prefer his solo stuff, but also liked Matthew Good Band) Hot Hot Heat (used to party with them before they hit it big) Armchair Cynics (also used to party with them before they got big) Alexisonfire Rush Loreena McKennitt

Giant anteater. They're just neat. They prefer to be left alone and are non-confrontational, but have pretty impressive claws that can make short work of anything persistent enough to provoke them. And for those who put dolphin... a lot of what we misinterpret as "cute" behavior is actually them trying to assert dominance. And there have been many documented cases of gangs of males who go around beating up other males and gang raping the females. They're probably the most mislabeled animal ever. They have good PR reps.